The State government on Wednesday notified five excavation sites at Kodumanal village in Perundurai Taluk in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette and gave two months time for receiving objections or suggestions after which the sites will be declared as protected archaeological excavation sites.
The gazette notification classifies the sites into five schedules with each schedule giving details of village, monument, location, revenue survey number, extent of the land, ownership, and respective boundaries on all four sides.
All the five sites were located 42 km from Erode Railway Station near Pandiyan Nagar at Kodumanal.
Notifications issued were: Schedule I - menhir (standing stone) on the Government poramboke vandi pathai (cart track) to the extent of .20 hectares and .34 hectares, Schedule II – habitation site on 2.4 hectare Public Works Department (PWD) land, Schedule III – megalithic burial site on PWD land to the extent of 2.50 hectare, Schedule IV – megalithic burial site on 2.68 hectare PWD land and Schedule V – megalithic burial site on government land (Natham) to the extent of 2.3 hectares.
The notification said that objection or suggestion from any person interested in the said ancient monuments would be considered by the government within two months, which can be addressed to the Principal Secretary to Government, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, Fort St. George, Secretariat, Chennai 600 009.
It may be noted that the government in its budget presented on August 13, announced that areas in Kodumanal where excavations were carried out would be declared as protected archaeological sites.
Later, a preliminary notification for the sites at Kodumanal was issued as “Protected Archaeological Sites” and the same was announced in the Policy Note (2022-2023) of the Art and Culture Museums Archaeology.
