ASI dials Isro to locate 24 'missing' monuments

AGRA: A day after Lok Sabha was informed that 24 monuments, 11 of them in UP, have gone "missing", it has emerged that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has signed an MoU with ISRO to locate the untraceable monuments using satellite technology. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, culture minister Mahesh Sharma on Monday cited a 2013 CAG report which said 92 protected monuments were untraceable, adding, "At least 24 of them are still missing while others were found".

Bhuvan Vikrama, superintending archaeologist, Agra circles, told TOI, "ASI has entered into an MoU with National Remote Sensing Centre/Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for preparation of satellite-based maps indicating protected, prohibited and regulated areas with respect to all centrally protected monuments."

Sharma had told Lok Sabha on Monday that a 2013 CAG report had said that a total of 92 protected monuments were missing in the country. Later, due to ASI's vigorous efforts to identify the untraceable monuments using old records, revenue maps and published reports by the respective field offices of the archaeological body, physical existence of 42 monuments were established and these were reclaimed. However, 14 of the monuments were found affected by urbanization while another 14 were found submerged under reservoirs or dams.Among the remaining 24 untraceable monuments, 11 are in UP while two each are in Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal has one each "missing" monument.





The untraceable monuments in UP include ruins of three small linga temple of 1000 AD (Ahugi, Mirzapur), three sites with megaliths on the western and north eastern toes of the hill (Chandauli), tablet on treasury building (Varanasi), Telia Nala Buddhist ruins (Varanasi), a Banyan grove containing traces of ancient building (Amavey, Ballia), closed cemetery (Katra Naka, Banda), Gunner Burkill's tomb (Mehroni, Lalitpur), three tombs, (Lucknow-Faizabad Road), cemeteries at milestones 6 and 7 (Jahraila Road, Lucknow), cemetery at Gaughat (Lucknow) and a large ruined site called Sandi-Khera (Pali, Shahabad, Hardoi).