In a restoration push, New Delhi's Gol Dak Khana gets its second wind

At rotary number 50, where five arterial roads of central Delhi intersect, stands Gol Dak Khana, a circular landmark that has long anchored the city's postal memory.

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The GPO building, currently being renovated, continues to operate with senders waiting their turns under scaffoldings (above); Craftsmen peel back decades of cement to restore Gol Dak Khana, the 1934 landmark that still anchors Delhi’s mail.

(SANCHIT KHANNA/HT PHOTOS)

Even today, as honking cars swirl around the iconic structure, the colonial-era New Delhi General Post Office (GPO) continues to function - its staff sorting parcels and letters while navigating a mesh of scaffolding pillars holding the roof of the building.

But, for the first time in decades, Gol Dak Khana is undergoing a full-scale restoration.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), entrusted with the project, is reviving the building brick by brick, arch by arch, carefully stripping away decades of what experts have said have been "careless repairs".

Built in 1934 as Alexandra Place, the complex once housed the Viceroy Camp Post Office, the nerve centre of colonial communication.