No progress in Wilson Survey sheet restoration for 6 months
Restoration of Wilson Survey maps of Shahjahanabad is delayed due to bureaucratic issues, but consent has been granted to proceed, officials say.
New Delhi
The restoration work of the Wilson Survey sheets, the most comprehensive modern mapping of the Shahjahanabad area from the early 20th century, has been stalled for the past six months due to bureaucratic red tape, officials aware of the matter said, with the land and estate department not willing to part with the remaining maps, citing procedural issues.
Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) stated on Wednesday that the project may gather pace, as consent has been granted by the land and estate department, and the map sheets will be sent shortly.
Between 1910 and 1912, British surveyor AJ Wilson was commissioned by the Survey of India and the erstwhile municipal committee—now, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)—to conduct a comprehensive survey of the city. The administration, in its early years, sought better tools to manage land, taxation, and governance within Shahjahanabad’s labyrinthine bounds. Wilson set out with a plane table, alidade, and tripod to survey each kuncha, every building, drain, well, and street, from the Red Fort to the hills of Paharganj.
More than a 100 years later, these maps are getting a new lease of life as IGNCA is helping the MCD to restore the original sheets, most of which were in an advanced state of decay when the project began. HT had reported about the restoration of Delhi’s lost blueprint in June 2025. Officials had then estimated that the remaining sheets would be completely restored in six months but no progress has been made.
An official working on the restoration project, on condition of anonymity, said that there are over 250 Wilson Survey map sheets along with one register for each sheet, recording the features. “Out of 250 sheets, 100 had been restored last year but new batch has not been received. Several letters were written but more maps and registers have not been provided for conservation work,” the official said.
A second official said that the land and estate department was responsible for the delay. “Several communications have been sent to the land and estate department but the maps were not released. The restored sheets will be features as heritage of civic body. Digital copies can be used for referencing work,” the official said.
The Wilson survey has passed through many hands and remained at the eye of several controversies, RTI and court cases. Delhi Archives, in 2021, unsuccessfully tried to obtain the “Wilson Survey Report 1910-11” report, which is said to have beautiful and detailed maps of the Walled City and the civic body also has negatives of the report.
MCD says that the survey formed the benchmark and basis for the town planning of the city in later decades. Restored maps will be featured in the “maps and surveys” section of the upcoming municipal museum, showcasing the evolution of the local body and the capital over the last 160 years would come up in the Old Press building section of the Town Hall complex.
