HILL BILL
Efforts on to get Gilbert Hill on tourist map
Mumbai: The efforts of a few heritage lovers and geologists may soon help
put the unique volcanic structure in Andheri known as Gilbert Hill on Mumbai’s
tourist map.
The Gilbert Hill contains a unique assemblage of spectacular vertical
columns of black basalt rock about 60 metres high; these columns usually
have a hexagonal cross section and are believed to have developed when
basaltic lava, which poured out from long fissures in the vicinity of Mumbai
65 million years ago, had cooled. It is the only hill of its kind in India
and had been reportedly declared a National Park by the Central Government
in 1952.
Interestingly, a similar volcanic hill in Wyoming, USA, the Devils
Tower, is already a popular tourist destination, visited by over half
million tourists annually.
The Devils Tower had also featured in the cult sci-fi Hollywood
thriller, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Ironically though, while America is celebrating 100 years this year of
recognising Devils Tower as a natural heritage structure, Mumbai’s
65-million-year-old Gilbert Hill is threatened by a rash of urban
constructions around it.
In October this year, the Bombay high court had appointed a panel
comprising the principal of the Sardar Patel Engineering College and a
geologist, Cyrus Tata, to study the hill and the causes of damage inflicted
to the hill to suggest preventive measures.
The former IIT professor of geology, V Subramanyan, has also presented a
proposal to the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to make
Gilbert Hill a tourist attraction.
“Gilbert Hill was recently placed on the heritage list of natural
monuments of Mumbai earlier this year, and MTDC has shown keen interest to
my proposal of making it a tourist destination, like the other marvels such
as Elephanta Caves and Kanheri Caves,” said Subramanyan.
“We have appealed to the police and K-west municipal ward for the last
several years to protect the hill from greedy land sharks, but now our last
hope is the court,” said S Pardeshi, a trustee of Gaondevi temple located
on top the hill.
“My own opinion is that the vertical columns have been weakened below by
excavations so much that they are falling off from top.
Since the columns have been only loosely put together by nature without
any proper cementing material between them in the joint openings, pouring a
mixture of cement and other suitable materials in the joints may help to
bind the columns together, suggested Subramanyan.
Gilbert Hill offers an excellent view of Mumbai city from its top and
thus holds considerable potential as a tourist site. It has been suggested
that a oneday tour be designed starting from the Elephanta Caves and ending
with Kanheri Caves, with Gilbert Hill as part of the ‘Volcanic Tour’ since
all the three sites have the same rock, the black basalt, with some subtle
differences.
An American anthropologist from Texas, Patricia Raval, has also been
showing a lot of interest in Gilbert Hill and has been in touch with
Subramanyan to work out the details for the ‘Volcanic Tour’ in Mumbai.
UNDER THREAT FROM URBAN CONSTRUCTIONS