Ajmer district is full of gates of Mughal era got constructed by Akbar for police of that time. This time is no different when Rajasthan police will have these gates converted into police chowkis.
At that time, Akbar used to visit Ajmer and for that the open vaulted gates gates accommodated royal guards. These used to be checkpoints so that no criminals and unlawful intruders could enter the city.
Even after Mughals didn’t have the reins of power with them, these points remained as the checkpoints in the time of Rathors, Marathas and British.
In fact, the present times are also savouring over the services of these gates.
These arched shaped gates are usually have heights of 25 to 30 meters and were made between the 1571 to 1572 in the dynasty of Akbar. Akbar always considered Ajmer as speech for him because it had the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.
These gates had giant space that even elephants got enough space to pass through. No any travelers could visit through these gates after sunset. The house of the guards were constructed adjacent to these entry gates. The Delhi Gate has three rooms made in the main structure which can be seen if one stands just below the arch.
Om Sharma, who is a local historian says, “The innermost room was for keeping arsenal while the middle room served as a resting space. The outer room was for the guards”.
Among the four gates, the state police have been made repeated requests to empty the Delhi Gate and Tripolia Gate has gone unaccounted. The gates have gone under the repeated drilling and renovation practices which are great threat to all four gates.
A Delhi Gate chowki police officer mentioned that it was far from possible to agree with ASI’s requests as the area has much of communal sensitivity. One other police officer, “It is at a strategic location. Keeping an eye on elements threatening peace is more important than restoring history”.
Many other open gates like Bass Gate, Diggi Gate and Usri Gate were made by Marathas and British were destroyed to bring in smooth traffic in the city.
