Sanjay Van heritage walk on November 14: DDA, INTACH open Lal Kot ruins

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Delhi Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) will hold a guided heritage walk at Sanjay Van in south Delhi on Saturday, 14 November 2026, the second in a series of 12 walks at six sites in the city. The walk will take visitors past the Historic Well, the Large Fortification, the Small Fortification, a bastion near the Small Fortification and the Lal Kot Wall, structures linked to Lal Kot and Qila Rai Pithora, regarded as Delhi's earliest fortified capital. Places are limited to 40 people, and the fee is Rs 500 per person plus GST, with registration online.

Sanjay Van is best known to Delhi residents as a large city forest, but inside it lie remains of the city's oldest fortifications. Lal Kot and the later Qila Rai Pithora are among the earliest walled settlements of Delhi, and parts of their walls and bastions survive in the forest. Most visitors who walk or run there do not see these structures or know what they are. A guided walk with heritage experts explains what the stones are and why they matter.

The arrangement splits the work. INTACH's Delhi Chapter will design the routes, themes and explanations and provide heritage experts and guides, while DDA, which manages these green and heritage areas, will handle access, permissions and other arrangements. DDA has also recently done conservation work at these sites, including repairing the well, stabilising fortification walls and clearing debris, according to reports.

For travellers and residents, the series offers a structured way to see lesser-visited parts of Delhi that are not on the usual Red Fort, Qutub Minar and India Gate circuit. The sites in the series range from the ruins of Mehrauli to the Northern Ridge, so a person who joins all of them would cover a wide sweep of the city's history and its remaining forests.

The small group size means places may fill quickly. Reports have given different registration links for the series and for the Sanjay Van walk, so the safest course is to register through the DDA's own portal.

Peepals calculation: With two walks a month for six months, the series runs to 12 walks (2 × 6). At up to 40 people a walk, the whole series can take at most 480 participants (12 × 40). At Rs 500 a person, a full walk would bring in Rs 20,000 before GST (40 × 500), or Rs 2.4 lakh across all 12 walks if every walk were full (12 × 20,000). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Up to 40 people will walk through the Lal Kot and Qila Rai Pithora remains in Sanjay Van on 14 November with INTACH guides. Further walks will follow at the other sites in the series.

Long-term: If the walks draw steady demand, they could build public interest in protecting Delhi's lesser-known monuments and green areas, and give DDA a model for opening more of its heritage sites to visitors in a controlled way.

Who is affected: Delhi residents and visitors interested in heritage walks; DDA, which manages the sites; INTACH's Delhi Chapter and its guides; and the monuments inside Sanjay Van and the other sites, which gain more attention and care.

What to watch next: The Sanjay Van walk on 14 November 2026, and the dates DDA announces for walks at Sultan Garhi, Tughlaqabad, Hauz Khas and the Northern Ridge.

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