The Hindu : Karnataka News : Non-inclusion of Gol Gumbaz in heritage site list draws flak

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 19, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Non-inclusion of Gol Gumbaz in heritage site list draws flak

Staff Correspondent

'Officials and elected representatives were not sincere on the issue'

ASI, Dharwad division, sent a proposal to
the Centre in 2007
It was not forwarded to UNESCO

BIJAPUR: The non-inclusion of Gol Gumbaz in the list of World Heritage Sites has drawn flak from a section of non-governmental organisations here.

Honorary president of Arya Trust H.G. Daddi, who has been working for the preservation of Adil Shahi monuments in the district, termed it a “tragedy”.

In a press release on Saturday, he said Gol Gumbaz had all the qualities to be a World Heritage Site. Mr. Daddi said the lack of sincere efforts from officials and elected representatives was the main reason for non-inclusion of the monument in the list.

He said the Archaeological Survey of India, Dharwad division, sent a proposal to the Centre in 2007 for inclusion of Gol Gumbaz in the list. “But, the Centre did not forward the proposal to UNESCO.”

He alleged that a section of officials in New Delhi were biased towards south India. Moreover, officials from the State did not push the proposal. “The silence of the elected representatives exposed how ‘insensitive' they were towards historical and cultural issues,” he said.

Mr. Daddi also criticised the State Government for opposing the proposal to include 10 select sites in the Western Ghats in the World Heritage Sites list.

“The Western Ghats is biodiversity hot spot, and its protection is the need of the hour,” he said.

The State Government's argument that the heritage tag would take away the rights of the natives showed its poor understanding of the issue, he charged.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka