The State Tourism Department, in association with the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), will form a five-member committee for cleaning and maintaining hygiene at heritage sites in the State, besides, marketing Tiruchendur Kanda Sashti festival in a big way.
Under the neat and clean programme, the department initially plans to cover Mamallapuram, Thanjavur Birhadeeswara Temple, Kanyakumari, Rameswaram, Tranquebar, Madurai Meenakshi temple, Srirangam temple, Tiruchi, Tiruvannamalai temple, Velankanni, Udhagamandalam and Kodaikanal. A meeting under the chairmanship of Tourism Minister S. Gokula Indira was held on Wednesday in which representatives of Archaeology Survey of India, Tourism Department, Municipal Administration, HR&CE, INTACH (Puducherry and Chennai regions) were present.
It was resolved to prepare and submit an action plan within a week and form action committee at each site. It was also suggested to form friends of monuments group with the help of local self-help groups and collect cess along with the entry ticket by creating a separate fund account. The amount should be used for keeping the area neat and clean.
An official release said the five-member committee would carry out site inspection to implement the action plan in selected areas, proper care had to be taken at planning stage to avoid any hindrance to the existing heritage structure, while creating new structures around it.
While expressing concern over the illegal encroachments by shoppers in Tiruvannamalai ‘girivalam path’ the members said necessary action should be initiated to clear them so that it would enable tourists/pilgrims to have free access to the pathway.
