Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Corporates doing their bit to preserve monuments

CHENNAI: The corporate sector is increasingly taking part in heritage preservation and promotion projects, according to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) joint director- general D.R. Gehlot.

Giving an account of various projects being implemented under the National Culture Fund (NCF), Mr. Geholt, who was here to participate in an Indo-Belgium workshop on bio-deterioration of monuments, told The Hindu that Indian Oil Corporation, Steel Authority of India Limited and the Jindal group of companies were among those taking part in several projects. The IOC was associating itself with the preservation of monuments, including the Khajuraho group of temples (Madhya Pradesh), the Sun Temple, Konark (Orissa), the Kaneri Caves (Maharashtra) and the Warrangal Fort (Andhra Pradesh). SAIL was taking part in the preservation of monuments in the Lodhi Gardens, New Delhi. It was proposed to cover the Krishna temple at Hampi in Karnataka with the help of the Jindal group.

Under the scheme, the ASI would take care of preservation works while donors could handle tourism infrastructure development. Private institutions and individuals could be taken as equal partners of the government in the management of the country’s cultural heritage. Direct contributions were accepted, and they were maintained outside the fund. “All contributions to the fund are given 100 per cent tax exemption under the Income Tax Act,” Mr. Gehlot said.

Satyabhama Badhreenath, Superintending Archaeologist, Chennai, said donors could even identify location or any specific aspect of a preservation project.

Mr. Gehlot said 100 sites all over the country had been identified. According to the NCF’s website (http://ncf.nic.in), the monuments in Tamil Nadu chosen were the group of monuments (7th-8th century AD) in Mamallapuram, the Thirumayam fort (built by Sethupathi Vijaya Raghunatha Thever (1673-1708) of Ramanathapuram), the hill forts in Dharmapuri, the fort on rock, Dindigul, and the Dutch Cemetery, Pulicat, of the early 17th century.

Jan Bosselaers, manager, scientific support of Janssen PMP, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica, Belgium, said the workshop was part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the ASI and his company in 2005. Since the late 1990s, his company was specialising in protection of monuments hit by bio-deterioration.

Earlier, it was involved in China and Central America, besides Belgium. Under the agreement, the Tipu Sultan Palace at Srirangapatna and the Vijayanagara monuments at Hampi, both in Karnataka, had been taken up. Bio-deterioration apart, structural problems were found in the two sites.

K.S. Rana, Director (Science), ASI, said his organisation was being helped by the Belgium authorities in establishing a bio-laboratory at Dehradun.

Koen Van Balen, Director, Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, Department of Civil Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium, said heritage preservation should not be seen as a matter of responsibility of the ASI but also that of people.

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