The Union Government has been urged to ask the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to prepare a master plan for protection of the Sun Temple at Konark.
The State Government has sent a proposal in this regard to the Union Ministry of Culture and urged to ask the ASI to take steps to protect the World Heritage Site.
Notably, while a Comprehensive Master Plan for preservation of the temple had been advised by experts as long back as in 2011, the ASI is yet to act in this direction. As a long-term measure, the experts had advised the ASI for preparation of the plan for a comprehensive preservation of the Sun Temple.
The Sun Temple, built in the 13th Century, is facing serious conservation problems like saline ingress, waterlogging, erosion and vegetative intrusions into its fabric. While due to poor conservation the main temple has collapsed, its Jaga Mohan is now intact.
Since 1939, the ASI has taken over the custody of the temple, which was declared as a World Heritage Site in 1984 by the Unseco. The ASI is accused has been accused for its callous attitude towards protection and preservation of the monument.
A Steering Committee was formed in 2011 under chairmanship of the ASI Director General and experts had advised the authorities to take steps for the temple’s protection and preservation. Though a decision was taken in this regard, but after a lapse of eight long years no steps have been taken as per the experts’ advice.
Similarly, poor protection of other monuments by the ASI has led to criticism; and the State Government has recently brought it to the attention of the Union Minister Culture and the ASI DG. For example, the Puri Jagannath Temple, which is in charge of the ASI, is also neglected by it. The conservation work of the shrine’s Jaga Mohan is not undertaken in a time-bound manner.
Till now, the ASI has declared only 78 monuments in Odisha as Protected and the number is much less compared to other States. For example, Uttar Pradesh has 743 Protected Monuments of the ASI; Karnataka 507, Tamil Nadu 413, Madhya Pradesh 292, Maharashtra 285, Gujarat 202, Rajasthan 162 and Andhra Pradesh 137.