Ramgarh is being taken up as the first model for development in Rajasthan’s Shekhwati region. Shruti Poddar, Founder of the Ramgarh Foundation in an exclusive conversation.
The Deputy Chief Minister, Princess Diya Kumari, has been quite keen on Shekhawati and its development. We had quite a few meetings earlier, where she had expressed her concern about the preservation of Shekhawati heritage, the havelis, and also wanted to do something to ensure their upkeep. I had briefed her, in my role as convener of Shekhawati for INTACH, and also my other work from my foundation. Recently, she called a special meeting on Shekhawati, where all the stakeholders from various government departments like the collectors of all the Shekhawati districts, along with the Principal Secretary Tourism and the Principal Secretary UDH; other tourism officials and local government officials.
Two special invitees from the private sector, including myself as she was familiar with my work in Shekhawati. The idea was to ideate on what could be done. And during the meeting, she took a report from each collector, some of them gave data. Some of them identified there was indeed some destruction on the ground. It was discussed that we should document all the Havelis of Shekhawati so that at least we know what stands today, and then work on conserving whatever is left. Also taking the past data, whenever it was recorded, so that we have a record of what destruction has happened, perhaps in the last 10 years. This was taken up and a directive was given to all the collectors.
An ideas that was taken up, how to create a regulatory body which can help in monitoring that no further destruction is done. There has been an old idea on the need to set up, some 10 years back, a Shekhawati Heritage Council. It was discovered in the meeting that there indeed was a draft in circulation. It had been authored by me, but it never got implemented. It was decided that a few of us should get together, government and stakeholders like us, get together and move this draft forward and look at the heritage bylaws and start implementing whatever is already implementable. And in the meantime, this Shekhawati Heritage Council can fructify and work towards finalising it and moving it forward.
What else could be done? The entire region was in dire need to be restored, but how. The Deputy CM was then of the view that perhaps we could start the work in clusters, show development as an example, and then take it further. “We don’t spread ourselves too thin, and we can show one cluster and it can become an example”, was Diya Kumari ji’s idea.
I offered that we take up Ramgarh Shekhawati? So, somebody else said, oh, why don’t you take up Nawalgarh, and so on and so forth. And then I brought up the fact, I said, you know, there was a DPR done in 2015 and presented to the former CM Vasundhara Raje ji in 2015. I was there at that meeting as well. And at that time, they had done a DPR, and they had said at that time that, other towns might have bigger Havelis, et cetera, but Ramgarh Shekhawati is the only town left, which has its historical topography intact. And so it is the only town of Shekhawati, which can still be saved because the others have already been destroyed due to industrialization. So, I brought this to the table and I said, if we save it now, we can make it better than Morocco.
The Principal Secretary UDH, said, let’s take Shruti ji’s opinion, since she has been working tirelessly; “I know since 2014 when she met me, she has never given up” he said. “I think we should award it to her. So, let’s take Ramgarh Shekhawati as the main model to be developed,” he suggested.
This was one of the happiest moments of my life that they bypassed all the more famous towns, that people keep talking about. And that Ramgarh which was a non-entity until 10 years ago, people had forgotten it, though it was the city which once had the highest per capita in the world, and the richest people of Shekhawati lived at Ramgarh. And then of course, people had abandoned it.
By some stroke of destiny, I happened to go there in 2013, and it’s been 12 years now. And to see it come back from being a non-entity or forgotten, even forgotten by the government until 2015, when I held an exhibition in Jaipur called Ramgarh Shekhawati: Past, Present, and Future during Rajasthan Diwas, that’s when the government woke up again, in terms of even realizing that there’s this amazing town, which is called Ramgarh. Now within 10 years, it has turned the corner and it has become the model town to be taken up seriously by political will, by the Deputy CM and her team along with all of us stakeholders.
So, it’s been a very, very fortunate turn of events and almost as if providence is leading us towards a destination. And all I can say is that I’m absolutely over the moon with this development.”
