Panel urges Culture Ministry to free monuments of encroachments

The Committee also noted that under the provisions of the Ancient Monuments Act, no construction is allowed in the first 100 metres from the protected limits of the monuments. Taking it a step further, it recommended that the restriction on construction near historical structures should be increased till the first 200 metres, the report said.

“The Committee suggests the ministry should take stringent steps in this regard such as fencing of all the monuments, tightening the security, stringent punishment for offenders, fixing the responsibility of concerned authority for their look after, so that no new case of illegal construction/encroachment occurs in near future,” it said.

The ASI has reported 252 cases of encroachment of monuments from all over the country out of which 202 cases are pending in various courts. The issue also figured in the 129th report of the department related to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture. The Committee has suggested the ministry might frame an effective rehabilitation policy so that people encroaching on land near the monuments may be vacated with minimum resistance and on a permanent basis.

The Estimates Committee also noted that the ASI had reported 35 Centrally protected monuments or sites as “untraceable”. “The Committee was informed by the ASI that as on date, it might not be possible to fix responsibility. The Committee view this as casual approach of ASI in this regard,” the report said. “The Committee recommends that the Ministry of Culture in consultation with other authorities should devise such a mechanism that before starting any new developmental work, it should be ascertained that in that particular area, there are no hidden remains,” it said.