A monumental tragedy
The wanton destruction of our heritage in the form of monuments and other historical sites is bad enough. While pressures on valuable land in major cities might be the prime reason why many sites are trampled upon by encroachers who have some kind of official or unofficial patronage, to lose 92 monuments, according to a CAG report, shows up the scant regard we have for our history and our legacy.
Ancient sites are a part of the history of an ancient nation. Such places should be marked and protected for posterity. If the Archaeological Society of India (ASI), which is a government-funded body invested with the responsibility of looking after our heritage, bungles to the extent of losing monuments, future generations will be losing out on what should rightfully be preserved for them.
Given that the Indian civilisation dates back several thousand years, there is not all that much left of our grand heritage which is being looked after with care. While environmental concerns cloud the future of the most visible of monuments like the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort, it is sheer bureaucratic negligence that is behind the destruction of much of our lesser-known heritage.
Far from protecting our legacy, the ASI is even said to have misused funds marked for the preservation of monuments that do not exist anymore. It’s time that ASI was pulled up for its shoddiness and a white paper is placed before Parliament by the culture ministry on what is left of our monuments and ways and means to protect them from disappearing, too.
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