ASI stresses on need to increase tourist footfall to monuments

It wants district administration to demarcate boundaries of monuments and introduce hop-on-hop-off bus facility

Many ancient and historical monuments in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts could be made popular and be protected if the tourist footfall to them increases, said Shivkant Bajpai, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Bengaluru Circle.

The coastal belt has to be developed into a hub of tourism, Mr. Bajpai said in a chat with The Hindu here. He noted the district administration has to do two immediate things.

One was to demarcate boundaries of ancient monuments and the other was to introduce a hop-on-hop-off tourist bus service to increase footfall to those monuments.

He said there were complaints of encroachment of properties around ancient monuments in the district. There was dire need to reclaim those properties to improve the landscape of monuments and protect them, he said adding he would hold a meeting with the district administration soon in this regard.

Giving the example of Sulthan Bathery in the city, Mr Bajpai said he was told government land around the monument has been encroached. There were complaints about other monuments too. In such a case, the role of the district administration becomes all the more important in reclaiming the encroachment and beautifying monument surroundings.

During his visit to Sulthan Bathery on Wednesday, Mr. Bajpai was surprised to see a survey mark on the bathery and was told it was made by the city administration. He said he would immediately seek its removal from the monument.

Besides marking boundaries, the administration has to facilitate easy and affordable visits of tourists to monuments. Along with ancient monuments, the administration may also include monuments more than a century old in the list and introduce hop-on-hop-off bus facilities.

Besides promoting tourism, the move would also contribute to the economy. For example, a circuit of Sulthan Bathery, Mangaladevi, University College, State Archives Museum, Thousand Pillar Basadi of Moodlbidri and the Masnasthambha at Bappanadu (Mulki) may be introduced, he said.

Mr Bajpai said he was visiting all the ancient monuments in the Bengaluru Circle and would take a call on their improvement later.