Don’t be surprised when you find the litter around Taj Mahal and Red Fort missing. Ministry of Tourism has tied up with a new janitor to keep the ancient buildings clutter free.
State-run exploration giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has adopted six monuments across India — Taj Mahal at Agra, Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, Elephanta Caves in Maha
rashtra, Red Fort in Delhi, Golkonda Fort Hyderabad and Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu — for their upkeep and maintenance as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
On Tursday, even the Archaelogical Survey of India, the primary agency which looks after the ancient structures gave a go-ahead to ONCG for adopting the six monuments under Campaign Clean India.
“The proposal from ONGC had been long pending with us. To expedite the process, we had taken up the matter with ASI and they have also agreed,” said an official from the ministry.
“ASI has been entrusted to work out details of various activities, cost estimates, identification of executive agencies and nomination of nodal officers for each monument without losing any time,” said the official.
Ministry of Tourism had launched the Campaign Clean India in 2011 to address cleanliness problem in and around tourist destinations in the country. They had asked for collaboration in this effort to keep monuments clean from big players such as corporate houses given their financial capability to sustain the effort for a long time.
The campaign was in follow-up to survey in select tourist sites in India, where it was found that hygiene and sanitation were an issue with both domestic and foreign tourists. Tourism Ministry has set a target of achieving 12 per cent growth during the 12th five year plan which commences from 2012 in the sector, with the sole target of attracting six million foreign tourists. Currently India attracts about 5.7 million foreigners annually.