Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday urged Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy for excavation and preservation of a recently-discovered 2,000-year-old post-Mauryan site in Bargarh district’s Barpali block.
Pradhan sought Reddy’s personal intervention to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to take over the site for better exploration, analysis and security of the priceless historical wealth.
He informed Reddy that he had got a petition from one Aswini Kumar Sarangi of Bargarh that the discovery made by the History Department of Gangadhar Meher University has historical value. Around 60 students and research scholars had started excavation on May 31. The site spread over 17 hectares has yielded numerous artifacts and antiquities dating back to the post-Mauryan period. The findings indicate that the site was a well-established trade centre.