Pavagadh cries out for planned conservation

Home to 40 per cent of the total reserved monuments in the State, Champaner-Pavagadh is camouflaged today by an assortment of stalls selling anything from fafda-jalebi to cassettes of the latest Hindi film songs, paan-beedi and trinkets. Before you climb up the hill to the Lakulish temple, for instance, you hear, instead of the more apposite bhajan, the latest Hindipop hit.

The approach road to the temple 8212; a significant piece of Shaiva history and oldest among the monuments here dating back to the 10-11th centuries 8212; lies hidden behind such shops. No fences separate the protected monuments from the shops.

Managing Director of State Tourism Department Jayant Parimal admits his department had never considered the problem of commercialisation, but also points out that this had never been brought to his notice by the ASI.

District Collector A K Rajesh admits the shops and kiosks are illegal and says he has a plan to remove them. However, he says, this will take more than three months as an alternative site has to be found for the shops.

The ASI cannot claim full marks on conservation either. There are 15 ASI-protected monuments on the Pavagadh hill alone, barring the Kalika Mata temple. This is their estimate; there is no board saying the structures are protected. 8220;Someone chopped down a board outside the Lakulish temple8221;, says the ASI8217;s Senior Conservation Assistant Motawala. Easy to do, because the monument attendants and caretakers too are conspicuous by their absence.

Pieces of sculpture and the ruins of monuments lie strewn across the hill with no one to account for them. The ASI says it is 8220;difficult8221; to keep watch over the entire expanse with their limited staff. Asked why no assistance had been sought from the Forest Department 8212; which holds charge of the hill8217;s forest area 8212; Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI8217;s Circle Office D R Gehlot replies, 8220;We8217;ll discuss the matter with the forest officials soon. But we have numbered the sculptures so that we can know if any piece goes missing8221;.

Another shocking revelation is the manner in which the Jain temples of the Digamber sect, under ASI shelter, have been painted. A pujari of one of the derasars told Express Newsline that the blackening of the temples over the years had prompted the Digamber trust, which holds worshipping rights of the temples, to 8220;beautify8221; them. The trust, incidentally, also decided to 8220;create better facilities8221; for visitors and pujaris by constructing a Dharamshala. Only, they broke down a plinth of a derasar in the process and decided to construct well within the regulated ASI area.

According to Gehlot, the derasars being living temples have religious sentiments attached to them. 8220;Not that we haven8217;t taken cognisance of the violations. We had filed an FIR with the police against the trust and some persons were also taken into custody,8221; he says.

Asked why the illegal structure had not been razed as permitted under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, Gehlot admitted they had the power to do so. But going by the number of monuments the ASI has to look after, the district and State authorities should also have a role to play in assisting our efforts8221;. He points out that the authority to construct in the area lay with Land Revenue Department and representations to restrict the shops and kiosks had been forwarded by the ASI to the district collectorate.

Gehlot, meanwhile, says he had included the Lakulish temple in this year8217;s revised conservation programme. 8220;Now that you have told us, we8217;ll set up wire-mesh fences along the road to curb the encroachments,8221; he says.