Dholka, Ahmedabad

Historical Malav Talav in Dholka will be repaired and restored by Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) at an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore.

Khat Muhurt ceremony for conservation work of Malav Talav was organized today at Dholka in presence of ASI officials, minister and local MLA Shri Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and minister of state for Health Shri Shankar Chaudhary.

It should be mentioned that Malav Talav was constructed by Queen of then Gurjar Desh, Minal Devi in 11th century. When construction of this pond was planned, one small hut of poor widow was found obstructing the round shape construction of Malav Talav. Local officials were ready to remove the hut and relocate the old lady to other place to ensure exact round shape of pond, but the old lady was not ready. When matter was raised to highest level by officials, Minal Devi refused to use force against that lady and allowed her hut to continue to stay at the same place. The queen thus compromised with original design of round shape. That “defect” is still visible in the pond.

Back in July this year, minister and local MLA Bhupendrasinh Chudasama during his visit to capital Delhi had held meeting with Joint Secretary of Archaeology department, Government of India Shri Sanjiv Mittal and Additional Director General Shri Bharat Sharma and proposed development of Malav Talav(Dholka) and Musar Talav(Viramgam) as archaeological site. He had also sought financial assistance for these two projects. In response to his representation, the Minister was told that a team of senior officials from Government of India would visit Dholka and Viramgam on July 23. After subsequent developments, today the actual ground work for conservation project was launched.

– DeshGujarat