Govt: 24 monuments are untraceable

monument

New Delhi: The Government reported yesterday that 24 monuments have disappeared and are untraceable.

Union Culture Minister, Mahesh Sharma said in a reply at the Lok Sabha that the ruins of Copper Temple in Arunachal Pradesh, Guns of Emperor Sher Shah in Assams Tinsukia district, Bara Khamba Cemetery in Delhi and the ruins of fort Bamanpukur in West Bengals Nadia district are among the disappeared monuments.

The ministry has prepared a list of such monuments, which includes 11 monuments in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

While conservationists say that urbanisation has made it hard to trace such monuments and often buildings are constructed around them, eventually swallowing up the whole place.

Another reason for these monuments disappearing is the routine encroachment.

The monuments which have already been victimised by these two processes include Asafi Imambara in Lucknow, a mosque at Sakhakheda in Maharashtra, Mahadev Temple, Chaiturgarh Fort, Dantenshwari Devi Temple at Chattisgarh, DEremao Cemetery in Delhi, Mosque of Sarai Alavardi Khan in Haryana and Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, Karnataka. -PTI