Protecting protected monuments

Why in the News?

A parliamentary committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP V Vijaisai Reddy has recommended that the list of centrally protected monuments (CPM) should be “rationalised” as 3,691 of CPM in India are “minor” monuments.

• The CPMs have to be categorised on the basis of their national significance, unique architectural and heritage value.
• It has also raised questions about the functioning of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Recommendations of the Committee:

1. The recommendations are part of the ‘359th Report on the Functioning of Archaeological Survey of India’ by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.
2. The committee has specified that the list of CPM includes a large number of minor monuments with no national significance.
3. This current list includes a large number of minor monuments with no national significance.
4. Examples include:
   1. The graves of public works department engineer John Albert Cope (died in 1880) and Henry Gassen (died 1877) located in Kumta, Karnataka, is a protected monument under the supervision of the ASI. The structure had no architectural value, and the individuals were of no historical significance.
5. The approach is seen to be furtherance of the government’s decolonisation agenda.
6. The committee recommends that the list of monuments with ASI should be rationalised and categorised on the basis of their national significance, unique architectural value and specific heritage content.
7. Deletion of some of the kosminars (milestones built by Mughals) may also be considered, because they come in the way of road-widening exercises.

Easing restrictions around monuments:

1. The existing provision of a 100-metre prohibited area and 300-metre regulated area around all ASI-protected monuments leads to public inconvenience.
   1. It prohibits and regulates all activities like mining and construction around 100 metres and 300 metres of all the protected monuments.
   2. It causes problems for the local community living around it, as it becomes difficult for the village to repair their residential houses.
2. This stringent provision applies equally to both significant and insignificant monuments.
   1. For instance, the rules above apply identically to the Ajanta and Ellora monuments as much as to kosminars, unknown cemeteries and tombs.

Fixing ASI’s core mandate:

1. The committee has recommended ASI to develop preservation plans for all its work, especially before excavations. This includes,
   1. establishing clear strategies for documenting findings and conserving artefacts
   2. Restoring structures to ensure minimal impact on the site’s integrity.
2. It advocated the use of advanced technologies such as LiDAR, ground-penetrating radar, and 3D scanning for enhanced accuracy and efficiency of excavations. 
   1. For instance, some of these techniques were recently used inside the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi by the ASI for its court-mandated non-invasive survey.
3. To make the ASI an effective agency, it advised bifurcation of the organisation:
   1. ASI can look after the core mandate – exploration, excavation and conservation aspects
   2. India Heritage Development Corporation (IHDC) can deal with ASI’s revenue, such as ticket collection, conducting auctions, issuing licences, running cafeterias, selling mementoes and running sound and light systems.
4. Highest priority to the physical security and survey of all CPMs across the country has to be ensured by ASI.
   1. CAG had declared 92 CPMs as “missing” and of which only have been located.
   2. The remaining 50 monuments are either affected by rapid urbanisation, submerged under reservoirs/dams or are untraceable.
5. Regular physical surveys of all CPMs should be carried out from time to time. 
6. The ASI should maintain digital log books that include textual and photographic/ video records of the monument’s physical state and location coordinates, to check encroachment, if any, of these CPMs at an early stage.
7. Shortages of human resources and funds are limiting the efficient functioning of ASI.
8. ASI must undertake restoration work keeping the original structure, its relevance and aesthetics in mind.
9. ASI should integrate sustainable practices in conservation and restoration projects, such as using eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient techniques, and taking into consideration the long-term environmental impact of interventions.

Recent major conservation works undertaken by ASI:

1. Hoysala Temples in Karnataka (which has just been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
2. Santiniketan in West Bengal (another recent WH site).
3. Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan
4. Ta Prohm and Preah Vihear temples in Cambodia
5. My Son Group of Temples in Vietnam
6. Friday Mosque in Maldives