A cleaner appointed by the SDA comes once a week to pick up the garbage in the complex, residents said.

The presence of a slum so close to Bijri Khan's tomb shows that the authorities have failed to abide by the Delhi High Court's directions and building bylaws which stipulate that there will be no building within 50-100 metres of any structure of archaeological significance.

SDA consultant Kishan Lal told IANS: 'We have no infrastructure to remove the encroachments nearby. Our first target it to protect the monument. The maintenance of the surrounding area is the responsibility of the civic body and land development authority. It is their job to remove the slums.'

A.K. Aggarwal, Deputy Land and Development Officer of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), said he had 'no idea there is a tomb like this and we are not aware of our land there'.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a non-profit heritage conservation organisation, has graded Bijri Khan's tomb of archaeological value 'A' - 'extremely important for historical, archaeological value'.

With help from INTACH, DDA listed 1,208 heritage buildings more than 100 years old. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) manages 174 protected monuments in Delhi. The SDA looks after 250 of them in understanding with INTACH.

A.G.K. Menon, convener of INTACH's Delhi chapter, told IANS: 'Despite the MoU, bureaucracy is getting in the way. We can't get anywhere. We have surveyed 90 monuments. Based on the data we have notified around 20 monuments as legally protected. After this the government can start spending money on conservation. Getting to smaller sites is always tougher.'

Tombs like Bijri Khan's aren't fortunate enough to figure on heritage routes planned by INTACH. Conservation architect Vikas Dilawari says incentives by the government and civil society action are the only way out.

'There should be incentives from the government like an area being invited to adopt a monument, which would give custodianship to the people in the area for upkeep,' he said.

(Shweta Srinivasan can be contacted at shweta.s@ians.in)