Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni has suggested that MPs should be allowed to use part of the money from their yearly corpus towards conservation of historical monuments and artifacts in their respective areas, an idea which drew instant support from the Planning Commission.Soni said even many MPs had expressed the need to use part of the MP Local Area Development fund (MPLAD) for conservation of places of historical importance in their respective areas, however, the current provisions do permit this. Each MP is allotted Rs two crore every year as fund for developmental work in his area. “I am going to put this idea before the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet. MPs should be free to use their funds for conservation purposes, if they want to,” Soni said at the launch of the National Mission for Monuments and Antiquities. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was also present at the function, supported the suggestion. “I think it is a brilliant idea. About Rs 1,700 crore is released every year for the MPLAD scheme. Even if 10 per cent of this goes for conservation of historical monuments, it would be a very significant amount,” he said. Ahluwalia added that even state legislators should be allowed to contribute toward the development of cultural heritage. “I don’t know how the Planning Commission can get involved in this, but we will certainly support such a move,” he said.Soni pointed out that development of tourism was not possible without strengthening cultural heritage in the country, and the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities is an important step towards better management of places and things of historical importance.With a time-frame of five years and a budget of Rs 90 crore, the mission has been handed the responsibility of making a comprehensive database of buildings and artifacts of historical importance. The setting up of this mission was announced by the then Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech in 2003.Soni said that a National Heritage Commission would be set up soon. It would be an autonomous permanent body to coordinate all conservation activities.
