The Hindu : New Delhi News : ASI proposes amendment to conservation rules

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Monday, Nov 12, 2007
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New Delhi

ASI proposes amendment to conservation rules

Staff Reporter

Draft proposal to be submitted to the Ministry soon

‘Construction activities are not allowed within a 100 metres radius of protected monuments’
There are over 3,600 protected monuments , of which 173 are in Delhi

NEW DELHI: With a view to give itself more legal teeth for management of monuments conservation and to take a re-look at obsolete conservation rules, the Archaeological Survey of India is in the process of finalising a draft proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Culture soon. The draft envisages a proposal for heritage and monument conservation going hand-in-hand with modern day construction activities.

ASI Superintendent in-charge (Monuments) A. K. Sinha said: “The Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules were prepared in 1959 and since no major exercise has been initiated to change those rules over the years, most of its provisions have become obsolete and are proving to be a hurdle for us to check some of the problems of today.”

There are over 3,600 Centrally protected monuments , of which 173 are in Delhi. According to Mr. Sinha, though there is scope for hundreds of more monuments to be included in the list, there is still no provision for their modern day management and maintenance. Mr. Sinha said: “In our draft we are proposing that the legal privileges of ASI should be made sharper so that we can deal with problems of people’s attempts to destroy monuments by defacing and damaging them for instance.”

Currently construction activities are not allowed within a 100 metres radius of protected monuments. These activities are regulated in further 200 metres of the monument. Mr. Sinha said: “Though this rule has managed to check monument damage to a large extent, at the same time we cannot ban construction completely since we cannot question the rightful property rights of the house owner whose property happens to be located near the protected monuments. We need to find a midway and are working on that through our draft proposal.”

“Currently the rules in place have been interpreted by people in a way that portray ASI as a villain which is not true. They are framed harshly and so are violated more by people. We don’t want this to happen so we need a re-look at the rules to make them reasonable,” he added. According to ASI, the rationale for initiating these measures points towards increasing awareness about India’s heritage in the past 10 years. Mr. Sinha said: “About 10 years back heritage was looked upon as a liability to the nation. However, today awareness about heritage has increased manifold and it is being looked upon as an asset.”

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