Ahead of the meeting of UNESCO’s committee on World Heritage Sites later this month, which is expected to include Jaisalmer historic Sonar Fort in its list of World Heritage Monuments, the district administration and local municipal committee are set to start a massive clean-up operation to remove all the illegal encroachments, shifting of hotels and restaurants and to make the fort silent and polythene-free zone.
At a high-level meeting, chaired by Additional Chief Secretary of Art and Culture Aditi Mehta, the operation clean-up was given final nod. According to the official sources, hotels and restaurants, located in the fort, have been served notices to move out from the fort during the next few weeks.
At the same time, a drive would be started to remove all the illegal encroachments, which had come up over a period.
The aim of this plan is to make the fort free from any kind of commercial activities. Under a notification, issued by the authorities, no construction work would be allowed within the 200 metre fringe of the fort.
According to the experts, draining of water from the hotels and restaurants is the major source of seepage, which has adversely affected the foundation of this about 800-year-old fort in Thar Desert of Rajasthan.
UNESCO’s committee, in last month, had short-listed six historic monuments of the country, which could be included in the final list of World Heritage Monuments. The committee will meet in Cambodia in the last week of this month. Source said that a team of Archaeological Survey of India would soon visit the fort to chalk out a plan, to restore the historic fort to its original.