Once a law, some of 3,695 protected structures may lose monument tag

Currently, a monument has to be at least 100 years old. But sources say there is a view to change that benchmark and go back since India has a wealth of ancient monuments, while most ‘100-year-old monuments pertain to the time of the Britishers’.

This would be in line with the government wanting to shed ‘its colonial past’, as announced by the Prime Minister at various fora to mark Amrit Kaal or 75 years of Independence.

There is also a likelihood of redefining ‘national importance’ as per the ethos of the country, since several centrally protected monuments were included on the list during the British regime, when the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was established. Eventually, put together, two will pave the way for the denotification of many centrally protected monuments, which currently stand at 3,695, it is learnt.

The AMASR Act only provides for denotification of a monument if it ceases to be of national importance. Recently, the ASI had admitted to a Parliamentary Committee about 24 missing monuments, and loss of another 26 to factors like urbanisation and submerging in dams.

The AMASR Act also prohibits construction up to 100 metres around protected monuments, except under certain conditions. An area up to 200-metre radius beyond the prohibited area is demarcated as a regulated area.

No construction work or related activity is generally permitted in these prohibited and regulated areas in case of all 3,695 protected monuments across the country, unless a specific approval is taken from the National Monuments Authority (NMA).

There is a feeling that this restricts a lot of areas which could be put to good use, specifically in case of developmental and infrastructure related work. It is expected that the amendments will pertain to making some relaxation in these zones, specifically in case of smaller and less significant monuments such as statues, cemeteries and cannons, etc., which don’t need such a big area around them to be restricted for their protection.

However, in case of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (India has 40 of them, including Taj Mahal in Agra, Dholavira in Gujarat, Ramappa Temple in Telangana, and Red Fort and Qutub Minar complexes in Delhi), these restrictions may stay, since construction in regulated and prohibited zones may impact these heritage structures. UNESCO has generally been encouraging such a concept to be complied with in the case of all world heritage sites.

Official sources, privy to the deliberations, say that uniformity in these restrictions for all monuments will be lifted.