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| Disappearing Delhi monuments. imesofindia.indiatimes.com |
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| Uzair Hasan Rizvi, Lucknow. UP in.pinterest.com |
Do you know the name of the Indian city that has the largest number of encroachments on the historical monuments? The unfortunate city is Lucknow, the capital city of the Uttar Pradesh. What is the reason for the illegal encroachments on the protected monuments? Both the state and central government officials in charge of monuments take no interest in them. As for the public, with some exception, awareness among them is at the lowest level. With so many encroachments around, Lucknow’s Cultural Heritage Uzair Hasan Rizvi has almost lost its cultural and historical ethos. ''Lucknow is matching with the footsteps as every second protected monument in the city is under encroachment. As per Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).''
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| Historic Uzair Hassan Rizvi, Lucknow, UP. scroll.in |
Uzair Hasan Rizvi, built in the 1860s by the Nawabs of Awadh, is a historical venue which hosted great people like Sarojini Naidu, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lokmanya Tilak Today it is crumbling slowly due to the onslaught of time, changing weather, vandals and government apathy. The structure that has many cracks has become a garbage dump. The other sites Bada Imamabad and Chota Imamabad are encroached upon by many shops and eating joints. Inside the building, many families are living. Asafi Masjid and Rauza-e- Kauzmain have similar residential problems.
Such historical monuments that stand boxed between new buildings have no protection at all in the form of barricades, so they become easy targets for the anti-social people in the society. At many places vandals, hobos and drunks can trespass and damage the sites and its heritage values.
That across our land 321 historical monuments of national importance have been encroached upon is a big and shocking news and it highlights the inability of the government to apprehend the culprits and recover the sites. Of course, removing the encroachers from the sites is a difficult and tedious problem, particularly if they have political clout or some kind of influence with the ruling part (in power). The media reports mention that in the last 3 or 4 years, the government authorities could successfully remove the encroachments only in seven cases.
Quite disgusting finding is 24 monuments are not traceable. Vestiges are completely obliterated by the culprits. What a shame? Among the sites that the Union Minister of Culture Prahlad Singh Patel listed during a discussion in Lok Sabha the highest number were in Uttar Pradesh (75), followed by Tamil Nadu (74), Karnataka (48), Maharashtra (46), Rajasthan (22), Delhi (11), Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab (seven each), Assam, Bihar and Odisha (six each), Himachal Pradesh (three), Madhya Pradesh (two) and West Bengal (1).
Quite appalling is the popular heritage sites were not left out. Famous sites such as Sun Temple in Konark, Odisha and Brahma Temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan, Purana Qila in Delhi and Ellora Caves in Maharashtra are also encroached upon. The moot question is what have the government officials on the center and state level been doing all these days? Couldn't they strictly enforce the government laws with respect to heritage monuments
The new construction near the heritage site is happening across India in spite of the government laws being in force. Any construction within the periphery of 200 meters of the monument listed by the government is a violation and such structures are considered encroachment. According to the ASI - Archaeological Survey of India removing the encroachment is a time-consuming legal process. India has more than 3691 ancient monument that are being managed by the ASI under different Circles.
Union Minister of Culture Patel said on the floor of the Parliament (March 2020) ''the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities has documented about 1,83,345 built heritage sites from various secondary sources in uniform format for its database, including the centrally protected and unprotected monuments. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), has identified and documented till date about 70,000 heritage properties in approximately 500 towns.''
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| Notified monuments under Delhi Archaeology Dept 2015 ndpaedia.com |
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| imesofindia.indiatimes.com |
The main crux of the problem is the location of ancient monuments in many places. They are all located in the prime and busy parts of the city. Lucknow, Hyderabad, Calcutta and Delhi are good examples and the heritage sites are located in the crowded commercial areas. Consequently such sites are marred by the new buildings around them.
As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned there are countless ancient and historical Hindu temples. Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple, Nellaiappar temple in Tirunelveli, Sri Ranganathar temple in Srirangam and Sri Kumbeswarar temple in Kumbakonam are good examples. Particularly, the nearby shops all around the entrance of Nellaiappar temple mar the beauty of the entrance gopuram (tower). After a fire mishap in Madurai Meenakshi temple a few years ago, the government in power removed the shops on all the temple premises. Such temples with shops inside looked like a bazaar and it would impact the sanctity of the place of worship.
In case of removal of encroachments, apart from delayed court procedures, under the special provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, a direction to the District Collector has to be made by the Central Government. Complaints are registered under the Act. To take action on the encroachers after issuing eviction notices, the officers have to be backed by security guards and police protection. If the defaulters have political clout, the task becomes much difficult. It is a vicious circle and red-tapism - excessive paper works and tardy govt. procedures rule the roost and will slowdown the work.
The impact of the illegal constructions or encroachments on the protected monument sites is a serious menace to the cultural and heritage ethos of our society and if such sites are disappearing for ever, there will be big holes in the history of that particular place or region. It is imperative and a necessity now for the government to amend the centuries old laws to enable the authorities to drive out the culprits who are bent to destroy our rich culture and exceptional artistic and architectural works.
http://indpaedia.com/ind/index.php/Delhi:_Monuments_(general_issues)
https://scroll.in/article/803027/a-century-on-the-site-of-the-historic-lucknow-pact-is-in-ruins
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