New Delhi: On Thursday, a tunnel-like structure was discovered in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Ram Niwas Goel, the Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, told the press that the tunnel connected the legislative assembly to Red Fort and was used by the British to avoid reprisals when moving freedom fighters. ‘When I became an MLA in 1993, there was hearsay about a tunnel present here that goes till Red Fort and I tried to search for its history. But there was no clarity over it,’ he stated. ‘Now we have got the mouth of the tunnel but we are not digging it further as all the paths of the tunnel have been destroyed due to metro projects and sewer installations,’ he added.
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According to Mr. Goel, the Delhi Legislative Assembly, which had become the Central Legislative Assembly following the shift of capital from Kolkata to Delhi in 1912, was turned into a court in 1926 and Britishers used this tunnel to bring freedom fighters to the court. ‘We all knew about the presence of a gallows room here but never opened it. Now it was the 75th year of independence and I decided to inspect that room. We intend to change that room into a shrine of freedom fighters as a tribute to them,’ he said.
He added that since the Delhi Legislative Assembly is associated with the independence of the country, he wants to open up the gallows room to tourists by the next independence day and has already begun working on it. ‘This place has a very rich history in the context of the freedom struggle. We intend to renovate it in a way that tourists and visitors can get a reflection of our history,’ he said.
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