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ALWAR: A 400-year-old Rajput fort went under the hammer after five hours of frenetic bidding at an open auction among 17 prospective buyers, with the offer going for just over Rs 7.01 crore. Thanagazi fort, 40km from Alwar near Sariska Tiger reserve, now belongs to Ramesh Meena, an Alwar-based property dealer. The second highest bidder, hotelier Gaj Singh Alsisar, lost by a margin of just Rs 1,000.
Thanagazi was a major defensive town of Alwar principality adjacent to Jaipur state. The massive fort on the hilltop was under Maharaja of Alwar until it was taken over by the government in the late 1960s. Its fringes touch Sariska tiger dens and the fort has significant historical importance. It now falls in the national capital region of Delhi.
"With government regulation on tourism near the tiger reserve, there would be no hotel around Sariska. Since this is a government auction and a safe property to develop for tourism, we decided on investing in this property," said Meena. The Rajasthan government was the owner of the fort.
"At the moment I don't know how we'd go about it but my partners own hotels and would decide on the course of action," said Meena, who invested in this property along with four partners who are already in the hospitality business. The Rajput fort, according to Meena, is dilapidated and would need huge investment to refurbish.
"The cost was very steep for a property likes this, but it's government-owned and falls in the NCR," said Meena, who deposited a token amount of Rs 85,000 and hopes to complete the formalities in next two days.
Tuesday was the second day of bidding as officials felt the fort was worth more than Rs 2.6 cr that the final bid was left at on Monday.
Through out the time the bidding was on, villagers around the fort protested fearing they would lose their land. They were assured by SDM Suresh Bunkar that the step would boost tourism and not displace them.
"Developing tourism infrastructure in the fort would only benefit the villagers in the area. They'll see a boom in development," said Meena.
