ASI spares a meagre Rs 93 lakh for Assam's heritage

NEW DELHI, July 15 ? A number of monuments and sites of historical importance in Assam may be decaying, crying for major conservation works but Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) could spare only Rs 93.88 lakh last financial year the Union Minister of State disclosed this for Information and Broadcasting and Culture, S.Jaipal Reddy. In Assam the Ministry of Culture is currently working on conservation projects in 21 sites including Karenghar (Talatalghar), Sivadol, Joysagar in Sivasagar district, ruins and excavated remains at Sri Suryapahar in Goalpara, Bamuni hills near Tezpur, Rangamati Mosque, Panbari in Dhubri and Cachar ruins in Kaspur in Cachar district. But annual allocations for the conservation work during the last three years were less than Rs 1 crore, the highest was Rs 99.58 crore in 2001-2002 indicating the volume of work that might have been taken up to preserve the monuments It?s the same story in Arunachal Pradesh where ASI is working on preserving the remains of Bismarknagar ruins at Balukpong. It could spare on Rs 4.14 lakh last fiscal. A year earlier, it spared only Rs 39,000 on conservation. In Manipur the ASI is working on conservation of temple of Vishnu Bishenpur, in Meghalaya it is memorial of U Mawthaw-dur-briew Narthing and in Nagaland Fort Dimapur. In Meghalaya, ASI spends Rs 5.91 lakh, Manipur Rs 1.25 lakh and Nagaland 12.94 lakh.