Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy informed the parliament on Monday that 24 monuments and sites are ‘untraceable.’
In a written response to another question in Lok Sabha, the union minister also said, “Since independence, it is reported that approximately 210 thefts involving 486 projects have been recorded from centrally-protected monuments and sites spread among 19 states and UT.”
According to him, 91 stolen items have been recovered thus far in the ongoing process of recovering stolen property. In answer to a different question, Reddy stated that 2,914 of the 8,478 villages that the Archaeological Survey of India has inspected over the past eight years had had ancient remains discovered.
According to him, ASI “conducts frequent village to village surveys to examine and document the antiquarian relics.”
There are 3,693 heritage sites in India that are protected by the ASI, with Uttar Pradesh having the most (743) of any state.
The minister also provided state-by-state information about the ASI’s village-to-village survey, which was conducted between 2014–15 and 2021–22.
According to the statistics provided, the ASI assessed 8,478 communities during this time, and 2,914 of those villages had ancient ruins.
Out of the 8,478 villages, Punjab had the most villages assessed (1,459), followed by Karnataka (933), and 130 and 806 villages in each of these two states had ancient ruins, respectively.
Reddy responded to a different question by saying that throughout the previous five years (2017–2021), 3152 villages were inspected, and 905 of those reported having ancient remnants.
The minister said that 1,224 monuments have cultural notice boards.
According to him, 3,693 monuments have been designated as sites of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, “out of which entry fee is charged at 143 locations,” in response to a question about the total number of ticketed and non-ticketed ASI monuments in the nation.
He responded to another question by stating that monuments have been separated into two groups for access fees. Monuments listed as World Heritage Sites are in Group “A,” while others are in Group “B.” Twenty entries are in Category “A,” while the remaining 123 are in Category “B,” he said.
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