From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is perplexed at 94 of its 3,686 “protected” monuments are not traceable. Its survey teams returned blank from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu and asked it to better drop these from its list of the monuments.
ASI chief Rajkumar Patel, however, said its teams have been asked to continue their search. Fresh survey was ordered in 2017, which could not trace 26 out of the missing 94 monuments. The official said 14 of them were hit by the urbanisation, while 12 were drowned in dams and reservoirs while 42 were located but they are under encroachment. The survey teams were not allowed entry in these encroachments.
In a report on Monday, Hindi daily Hindustan recalled that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also reported in 2013 about 94 vanished monuments and questioned the money still be spent on their upkeep.
The daily says 14 protected monuments have disappeared in Uttar Pradesh alone in Agra, Meerut and Lucknow circles. It also published an old photograph of Agra’s City Wall that has disappeared from the grond.
The prominent monuments that are in the list of those missing include:
— Gufa Mandir of J&K
— Barakhamba Cemetery of Delhi
— Tablet on Treasury building in Varanasi
— Kosh Minar at Mujesar in Faridabad
— City Wall in Agra
— Kosh Minar in Shahbad in Haryana
— Ichhlawali Gumti, Kotla; and
— Kutumbari Mandir, Dwarahat in Almorah
