The department of Tourism finally acknowledged the need for preserving the heritage of archaeological significance scattered everywhere in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district however it rued lack of teeth to keep the very forces behind the slow death of heritages at bay.
Principal Secretary Tourism, Sajal Chakraborty who had recently been to these sites said, “It in shambles. layers of paintings are coming out. Once its gone it will never come back.” However Chakraborty confessed that the department is “nothing” compared to the entities that are active in the region.
Interestingly, International Council Of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in its report titled “Heritage at Risk” had picked up several sites in Hazaribagh and the North Karanpura Valley as endangered and cited the forces threatening its very existence.
“The entire land covering the heritage comes under NTPC’s acquisition area. It has developed cracks due to blasting in the area,” added Chakraborty. But the threat to Palaeolithic deposits, Mesolithic rock art, Neolithic sites Megaliths and Dolmens from the coal mines Central Coalfields ltd (CCl) is as serious as it is from the NTPC’s operations in the area, he said.
However, the Principal Secretary instead of moving a petition in the court stressed on taking the CCl and NTPC on board to preserve the sites. “We will include them in our effort to save the sites from extinction. We will organise a presentation on the conditions of the sites and will invite CCl CMD and NTPC to the presentation show,” said Chakraborty.
Meanwhile, the sites- Isco, Barwadi Phunkri, Sariya, Khandar , Raham & Sidpa seems to have missed the radar of Central government also. Sources in Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) revealed that the department never received any requisition from Central or the State government for maintaining the sites hence it is not among the sites maintained by the ASI.
“Our team had visited the site around four to five years back. But unless we are being asked to maintain the sites we can do nothing,” said source. Although the department has expressed its resolve to save the sites, it will take at least another two years the ASI to take the site under its supervision.
“There is a process to follow if the State government wants us to take care of these archaeological sites. We examine the sites on parameters such as historical significance, artistic value, aesthetics and national importance,” said source.
Isco contains deposits belonging to lower Palaeolithic age and deep underground caves inhabited by humans during ice ages.