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Maharashtra's Cultural Affairs Minister chaired a review meeting at Mantralaya and directed officials to carry out an objective assessment of unauthorised constructions, graves, dargahs and other structures in and around Shivneri Fort.
Officials were told to act on unauthorised constructions in the fort's buffer zone within seven days.
The meeting was attended by the Pune district collector, the superintendent of police, Archaeological Survey of India officials, state archaeology officials, the tehsildar and police officers.
Satellite imagery from the Centre's 'Netra' application is to be compared with the state government's 'Maha State' data to establish when the structures were built.
Shivneri, near Junnar in Pune district, is the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and one of the twelve forts inscribed by UNESCO in July 2025 as the Maratha Military Landscapes of India.
The statute under which the ASI protects centrally protected monuments. It is the basis on which construction around a protected fort is examined and, where unlawful, removed.
Introduced the statutory 'prohibited area' of 100 metres around a protected monument, in which construction is barred, and a further 200 metres of 'regulated area' where construction requires clearance — the legal core of the buffer-zone question at Shivneri.
The treaty under which the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, including Shivneri, were inscribed in July 2025; inscription carries an obligation on the State Party to protect the property and manage its setting.
Protects and conserves centrally protected monuments and sites under the AMASR Act, 1958; tasked here with physical inspection and a report to the district collector
The state archaeology agency responsible for state-protected monuments in Maharashtra; represented at the review meeting
Inscribed the Maratha Military Landscapes of India on the World Heritage List at its 47th session in Paris in July 2025
The fort is built, guarding the old trade route linking the Desh region to the port city of Kalyan.
The fort passes to the Shilaharas and then the Yadavas.
It comes under the Bahmani Sultanate.
It is taken over by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
Bahadur Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar grants Shivneri and Chakan forts to the Maratha chief Maloji Bhosale, grandfather of Shivaji Maharaj.
Shivaji Maharaj is born at Shivneri and spends his early childhood within its walls; some records give the year as 1627.
The English traveller Fraze visits and records that the fort was very strong and could not easily be taken.
Shivneri is inscribed by UNESCO as part of the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, India's 44th World Heritage Site.
Shivneri stands on a hill near Junnar in Pune district, Maharashtra. The fort is triangular, stretches about one kilometre, is entered from the south-west through seven well-defended winding gates and is ringed by strong mud walls. Inside are a prayer hall, a tomb and a mosque; at its centre lies the water pond Badami Talav, south of which stand statues of Jijabai and the young Shivaji. Two perennial springs within are called Ganga and Yamuna. About 2 km away are the Lenyadri Buddhist rock-cut caves.
GS Paper I > Indian heritage and culture, Maratha history; GS Paper II > Statutory bodies and protection of heritage
General Awareness > Indian history, forts and UNESCO World Heritage Sites
The area surrounding a protected monument or heritage property in which development is restricted so that the setting of the monument is preserved.
Under the AMASR framework, the 100-metre belt around a centrally protected monument in which construction is barred; beyond it lies a 200-metre regulated area requiring clearance.
The set of eight revered Ganesha temples in Maharashtra; the Girijatmaj temple in the Lenyadri caves near Shivneri is one of them.