'Barh ki Chowki', Delhi's 200-year-old police station, restored

The restored police station is expected to be officially inaugurated this month, officials said.

One of Delhi's oldest police stations, Barh ki Chowki, which was built in the early 1800s during colonial rule, will soon be open to the public as soon as the restoration and conservation work undertaken by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) has been completed, reports TOI.

The restored police station is anticipated to be officially inaugurated in September itself, officials said.

ACP Rajendra Singh Kalkal said, “We will operate a small Delhi Police office here. We will take care of the over 200-year-old structure and maintain it properly.” He added that the office that will run out of the location has not yet been decided.

Delhi Police discovered the historic building in 2006, and it was in bad shape. Kalkal told the publication that he learned about the chowki while conducting research for his coffee table book "Delhi Police: History & Heritage."

ACP Kalkal also mentioned that the chowki is mentioned in Mirza Sangin Beg's memoirs from the 1820s, titled "Sair-ul Manazil”. Shama Mitra Chenoy, who translated it into English, stated that there was a police chowki next to Sheetla mandir (Usha Mata temple) and across from Kala Pahar, now known as Anand Parbat, Kalkal says.

"Based on this information, we discovered that an old chowki was located beneath the Sarai Rohilla police station area," Kalkal said, adding that the structure was discovered in the North district. Intach was then contacted for its preservation and restoration, he said.

Director and head of Intach’s architectural heritage division, A Vijaya, said that the restoration was undertaken in 2022 in two phases.

“In Phase I from April to November 2022, emergency repair works funded by Intach were undertaken. Phase II was carried out from May to August 2023 wherein the interiors, illumination and landscape design were taken care of. This phase was funded by the National Culture Fund, Ministry of Culture,” she said, adding that about Rs 20 lakh was spent on the restoration work.

In speaking with TOI, She further mentioned that they carried out traditional masonry work and restored the arches, which had earlier collapsed. A small well that was present on the site was also cleaned by the team, Vijaya added.

She further mentioned that the building is a single-storey structure completely made out of stone and has an arcade at its entrance along with two rooms at the rear.

Sanjay Beniwal, former Special CP (Perception Management and Media Cell), who is now appointed as the DG (Prisons) of Tihar Jail, was closely involved in the restoration work of the police post, and he played an active role in funds being released from the Ministry of Culture, officials said.