Question : Encroachment of Heritage Sites

(a) whether there has been considerable rise in the cases of illegal encroachment in important historical heritage sites and monuments in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including Madhya Pradesh;

(b) whether the Government has prepared any action plan to deal with the said situation or fixed any responsibility in this regard;

(c) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to keep such monuments free from encroachment;

(d) the number of encroachments removed by the Archaeological Survey of India during each of the last three years, State and monument-wise; and

(e) the funds released by the Government for the maintenance and upkeep of these monuments during the last three years?

MINISTER OF STATE, CULTURE AND TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) Information is being collected and will be placed on the table of the House.

(b) Government has been taking appropriate action against all such illegal encroachments as per the provisions of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and Amendment & Validation Act, 2010.

(c) The encroachments in the protected monuments and protected areas are removed as per the provisions contained in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and Rules, 1959 framed thereunder. Superintending Archaeologists are also authorised to issue show cause notices under the provisions of Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 and Rules 1959 followed by a direction to the District Collector/Magistrate by Central Government to remove such encroachment under section 19 (2) of the Act and Rule 38 (2). In order to contain the encroachments and removing them, the Superintending Archaeologist in charge of the Circles have been vested with the powers of an Estate Officer to issue eviction notices/orders to the encroachers under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. Further, assistance in such cases is also sought from the respective State Government/police and where there are no fruitful results actions are initiated against the encroachers by filing cases in the court of law. In addition to the regular watch and ward staff, private security personnel, State police guards and CISF have also been deployed for the safety and security of selected monuments. The Ministry of Culture has also requested the State Governments to form coordination committee comprising State and Archaeological Survey of India officials to solve the problem.

(d) Information is being collected and will be placed on the table of the House.

(e) The expenditure incurred on maintenance and upkeep of all centrally protected monuments including these monuments in the country during the last three years is at Annexure.


ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (e) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.902 FOR 21.11.2016

STATE/UT-WISE DETAILS OF FUNDS ALLOCATED AND UTILISED FOR CONSERVATION OF MONUMENTS
(Amount Rs. in Lakhs)
Sl. No. Name of State/UT Number of protected monuments Circle / Branch 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
1. Uttar Pradesh 743 Agra Circle 957.97 1404.99 1270.00
Lucknow Circle 944.99 1165.00 945.08
Sarnath Circle --- 534.99 495.00
2. Maharashtra 285 Aurangabad Circle 493.00 695.00 629.05
Mumbai Circle 415.00 645.00 902.82
Nagpur Circle --- 444.98 845.00
3. Karnataka 506 Bangalore Circle 1253.00 1515.99 1427.02
Mini Circle Hampi -- 90.00 401.24
Dharwad Circle 993.79 713.94 716.42
4. Madhya Pradesh 292 Bhopal Circle 716.99 956.99 1261.01
5. Odisha 79 Bhubaneswar Circle 280.00 596.99 679.52
6. West Bengal, 136 Kolkata Circle 448.18 549.63 537.95
Sikkim 03
7. Tamil Nadu, 413 Chennai Circle 845.00 1070.01 919.10
Puducherry (UT) 07
8. Punjab 33 Chandigarh Circle 795.92 875.85 634.98
Haryana 91
9. Himachal Pradesh 40 Shimla Circle 155.86 315.00 300.00
10. Delhi 174 Delhi Circle 1300.19 1499.75 1176.73
Delhi Mini Circle - - -
11. Goa 21 Goa Circle 144.50 397.36 240.99
12. Assam 55 Guwahati Circle 174.94 292.56 395.07
Manipur 01
Meghalaya 08 Aizwal Circle, Mijoram
Mizoram 01
Nagaland 04
Tripura 08
Arunchal Pradesh 03
13. Rajasthan 162 Jaipur Circle 521.48 610.00 512.98
Jodhpur Circle --- 569.96 729.29
14. Andhra Pradesh 129 Hyderabad Circle 1068.43 998.32 776.61
Telangana 08
15. Bihar 70 Patna Circle 263.00 414.99 374.99
16. Jammu &
Kashmir 56 Srinagar Circle 260.00 443.00 135.07
13 Mini Circle Leh 116.83 141.98 131.50
17. Kerala 28 Thrissur Circle 455.00 647.19 659.99
18. Gujarat 203 Vadodara Circle 655.00 847.99 1123.07
Daman & Diu(UT) 12
19. Uttarakhand 42 Dehradun Circle 210.49 264.99 215.00
20. Chhattisgarh 47 Raipur Circle 468.40 587.89 670.33
21. Jharkhand 13 Ranchi Circle 69.00 115.98 147.61
Chemical Preservation
(All India) 510.85 787.65 729.60
Horticultural Activity (All India) 2446.05 3357.98 3878.22
Reserve
Total 3686 16963.86 23551.95 23861.24