The Union Tourism Ministry’s decision to handover the maintenance of heritage sites in Telangana to private entities under Adopt a Heritage Scheme has reportedly not gone down well with the State government.
Senior officials of the State government are finding fault with the Central government for announcing the decision unilaterally without taking the State into confidence. The Union Tourism Ministry that launched the scheme in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India had not even informed the State of the modalities relating to the scheme or the sites that would be handed over to private entities, the officials said.
The scheme announced by the Union Government envisages development of heritage sites, monuments and other tourist spots by making them tourist-friendly to enhance their tourism potential and cultural importance in a planned and phased manner. The project entails handing over of heritage sites and monuments for adoption to private and public sector companies and individuals for providing basic amenities and to complete operation and maintenance (O&M) for the first five years subject to review at any time.
Several prominent sites in the State including the Charminar, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Golconda Fort, Ramappa temple at Palampet, Warangal Fort and Nagarjuna Konda Hilltop figure among those that would be given for adoption by institutions/individuals from private and public sectors. Officials are surprised that the State government has been kept in the dark over the modalities that are being followed for giving these sites to private entities for adoption.
“There is no clarity on even the names of the heritage structures in the State that have been listed for adoption,” a senior official told The Hindu . Admitting that the State has little say in the issue as the sites are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, the officials feel that the Centre should have made required budgetary allocations with specific mandate to the agencies concerned to effectively maintain these sites rather than handing them over to the private entities.
Efforts unacknowledged
The mention of Qutb Shahi Tombs in the sites listed for adoption under the Adopt a Heritage Scheme has the potential of raising a controversy.
The decision to hand over maintenance and operation of the site to private parties in phase III of the scheme comes after painstaking efforts of the Aga Khan Trust that had ensured significant changes at the site and the landscape surrounding it in the recent past. The changes came after the tombs were handed over to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture for conservation and restoration through a memorandum of understanding between the Trust and the State government a few years ago.
