SCAM SHAME: 35 protected nat’l monuments vanish

New Delhi: The Archaeological Survey of India, the government agency responsible for preserving the country’s cultural heritage, has made a startling revelation. It just doesn’t know where 35 of its protected monuments have disappeared. “Untraceable” is the word it has used.

According to information, which came as an answer to a question in Parliament on March 12, from a prehistoric site in Mysore to the remains of an ancient building in Nainital, from a 12th-century temple in Rajasthan to the guns Sher Shah used, many of what should have been India’s prized possessions are nowhere to be found.

Delhi may have been north India’s seat of power for many centuries, hence the site of several of these monuments, but when it comes to their upkeep and preservation, the capital fares the worst.

Of the 35 protected monuments that have disappeared, twelve of them are from Delhi. The capital is followed by Uttar Pradesh with eight such monuments/ sites missing.

ASI chief blames new bldgs, encroachments
New Delhi: Among the 35 protected monuments that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) says are “untraceable”, J&K and Uttrakhand have lost two each, as have Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka are among states that record one such missing site.

But how can a monument—a permanent structure—vanish in thin air? “There could be several reasons,” says S K Mitra, ASI’s director of exploration & excavation. “We might have lost them because of modern construction, encroachment or perhaps destruction dating back to the British Raj.” Rapid urbanization, too, takes a toll.

Experts typically link encroachment with the gradual disappearance of monuments. Surprisingly, another Parliament question answered on the same date indicates that there have been encroachments at 249 monuments/sites. Places like the ancient burial cave at Thrissur, pre-historic rock shelter at Raisen, megalithic site at Kanchipuram, rock-cut caves at Bongaigaon, Prithvi Raj Chauhan Fort at Hissar, and the Buddhist stupa at Champaran were all victims of encroachment. Even famous sites like Agra’s Jama Masjid, the Ellora caves and Golkonda Fort in Hyderabad have not been able to fend off the surge of modern-day settlers. As of December 2012, the ASI had succeeded in clearing only 24 such encroachments.

The important question now is whether the number of 35 missing monuments will decrease, with some gradually being traced by the ASI. Though the ASI has been continuously working on this project,locating these is not easy.

In fact, experts say the recovery might never happen. “Because of re-organization and division of districts and tehsils, the original khasra documentation detailing the site of the monuments, as mentioned in the old gazettes, have become meaningless,” says Mitra.
Courtesy:
Atul Thakur TIG
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