Zero Mile’s prime glory to be restored
   Date :11-Jan-2023

Zero Mile 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Nagpur Chapter, has come forward for conservation and protection of the historic Zero Mile Stone, a pride of the city. The conservation and beautification plan of CREDAI for the historic monument was approved by Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) on Tuesday. The monument was lying in a state of neglect as NMC failed to provide funds for its conservation despite its historic importance.
The Heritage Conservation Committee, during its meeting on Tuesday at the Town Planning Department, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, discussed and examined CREDAI'S proposal for repair, development and maintenance of the Zero Mile. CREDAI had approached District Collector and evinced interest in taking up conservation, beautification and maintenance of the historic place. Collector promptly sent the proposal to HCC for discussion and finalisation. The beautification project was finalised against backdrop of a meeting of one of the segments of upcoming G20 meet that is scheduled in the month of March.
Ashok Mokha, Architect, President, Nagpur Heritage Conservation Committee; Pramod Gawande, Deputy Director, Urban Planning and Member Secretary; P S Patankar, Structural Engineer; Prof Shubha Johari, ex-HoD, Ancient History, RTMNU; A P More, A P Budge, Pankaj Parashar, Parag Nagarle, Nandkishore Dhengale, Abhishek Zaveri, CREDAI's Hemant Nagdive, Gaurav Aggarwal and Dinesh Bhojwani were prominently present at the meeting.
The proposal aims at beautifying, and conserving the entire location, including the four horses, sand stone, and the Zero Mile pillar. The Collector had advised the Heritage Conservation Committee to approve the beautification project. The proposal was thoroughly discussed with by HCC who were briefed by CREDAI's about their conservation plan. CREDAI has also proposed to develop the area surrounding the pillar so that citizens can spend some quality time at the site.
The High Court had also directed to protect and conserve the heritage structures. With the view of preserving and restoring this historic site., the project will bring glory to the city and the Heritage site, stated members of HCC.
At present, the Zero Mile is victim of apathy of citizens and planners towards their history. Of the four stucco horses, two had developed cracks and suffered damages due to lack of maintenance and also due to years of neglect. Zero Mile Stone was built during British time to mark the Trigonometric Survey of India in 1907 and has two sandstone structures, a pillar and a small stone that depicts GTS Standard Bench Mark.