The Hindu : Karnataka News : ‘More plans to conserve heritage sites needed’

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Wednesday, Mar 05, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

‘More plans to conserve heritage sites needed’

Staff Reporter

Hampi Master Plan pending for approval
It will help regulate development

BANGALORE: More master plans, on the lines of the Hampi Master Plan, are required to protect and conserve monuments of world heritage, said S.V.P. Halakatti, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), here on Monday.

Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of an event organised by the Karnataka Shilpakala Academy, Mr. Halakatti said there was a need to constitute an authority such as the Hampi Development Authority for the world heritage site at Pattadakal.

He said that the Hampi Master Plan was the first of its kind in the country that will address not only regulating development but also look at how people residing in the area are not adversely affected in terms of being displaced by such activities. “It is also the first to address a heritage area,” he said.

The Master Plan is pending before the State Government for approval.

“It will probably be approved soon because development activities have been stopped till the Master Plan comes into force,” Mr. Halakatti said.

Earlier, speaking at the screening of a documentary on Karnataka’s architecture, Mr. Halakatti said that Indian students graduating from sculpture courses abroad were hardly aware of what was necessary to repair sculptures, as their knowledge of what is in the ancient texts is nil. “They might be adept in using the latest technology but if asked to repair a broken finger on a statue or redo a worn down pillar, they do not how to do that,” he said.

Urging for a different approach to sculpture, Mr. Halakatti said that even in tourism, it was places that were advertised, not the sculptures and the history behind them. “We need to encourage our sculptors, perhaps even rope in corporate companies, so that this art can flourish,” he added.

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