Culture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal has directed officials of his Department to send a proposal to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to include the ancient city of Sirpur in the World Heritage list.
INTACH founded in 1984 is the only non-Governmental and non profit making society working for the awareness and conservation of Indian culture and heritage. Agrawal in a review meeting which was held to take stock of the different projects taken up under Culture and Tourism Department today also directed officials to prepare a comprehensive report on the archeological sites where excavation work had been carried out and arrange for their security in the State.
Officials attending the meeting informed the Minister that the work is underway to construct museums in Jagdalpur, Ambikapur, Korba, Janjgir and Bilaspur for upkeep of the artefacts found during excavations in the State. To this, Agrawal said that the archeological sites where such artefacts had been found during the past two to four years must be declared as State Protected sites.
The Minister said that there are many ancient temples located among other temples in the Purani Basti locality of Raipur and attention must be paid on their proper upkeep. He said that every effort should be made to conserve ancient temples which are in dilapidated condition. Agrawal also stated that an exhibition must be held on the 150th birth anniversary of great visionary Swami Vivekanand based on his life.
He said that the exhibitions must be held in one school of every district headquarters and block level headquarters in the State.