The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), which regularly organises heritage walks and other events, now wants to expand the reach from its current presence in 170 districts to 650 districts in the entire country.
“We have a presence in only three districts of Telangana –Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar and Warangal. We want to expand to all the districts in the State so that we can create awareness on the need for protecting our heritage. We want younger members and we have started clubs in schools and colleges. We currently have 10,000 volunteers,” said M. Gopalkrishna of Intach.
On Saturday, Intach had a brainstorming session about ways to create awareness and sensitise people about heritage at its District Convenors’ Meet and it came up with a plan.
“We are working at multiple levels with the communities as well as the government. We are carrying out a pilot project on Clean Ganga by using biological re-mediation in the Asi tributary which has been reduced to a drain,” said L.K. Gupta, Chairman of Intach. “Intach has filed a Public Interest Litigation in Delhi to declare newer buildings as heritage sites so that they are not tampered with. Once we have a judgement, it can be expanded to other regions, including Telangana where buildings like OGH and Ravindra Bharathi will get a tag for protection,” said Anuradha Reddy of Hyderabad chapter of Intach.
