Bengaluru: Karnataka is surely one state marked with iconic monuments, speaking eloquently of the rich bygone era. Unfortunately, it is also one of the states, which could hardly pay respect to this rich heritage.
A study shows that out of 508 centrally protected monuments, 57 sites, including the magnificent Gol Gumbaz in Vijayapura are encroached.
Karnataka stand next only to Uttar Pradesh in this ‘great feat’ and going by the Culture Ministry’s documents, as many as 278 centrally protected sites in the country are encroached. Surprising but true, even spots residence of British India’s Commander in-chief Robert Clive in West Bengal and Fatehpur Sikri in Uttar Pradesh too have not been spared by encroachers.
The nature of encroachments varies from small stalls to other structures in the protected area -at the historic sites in the state. At Gol Gumbaz, the tomb and other structures within the protected area are encroached upon.
Karnataka has protected monuments in 24 of its 30 districts. Vijayapura accounts for 53 of the 57 encroachments, followed by Bidar, while Chamarajanagar and Kalaburagi each have one encroached site. Vijayapura is home to 182 protected sites, the highest in the state, reports Time of India.
Though the Archaeological Survey of India issued notices in this regard, it is said that clearing the encroachments is not possible without assistance of the state archaeological departments and local administration.
But, the local administrations often say that the ASI has the right to deal with these issues while local administration can only play a supporting role.
However, amidst arguments the splendid monuments are slowly being smothered in squalor. With the state taking a stern stand on encroachment of ‘Raja Kaluve’ in Bengaluru after the state capital was hit by a catastrophic flood recently, it is time state government woke up to the dire situation of saving the monuments from encroachment as well.
