New Delhi: Twenty-four historical monuments in India have either lost or remained untraceable, according to the central government. Out of all, Uttar Pradesh alone has eleven of them.
Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said these monuments have either disappeared or remained untraceable due to various reasons. The ruins of the Copper Temple in Arunachal Pradesh, the Guns of Emperor Sher Shah in the Tinsukia district of Assam, the Bara Khamba Cemetery in Delhi and the ruins of Fort Bamanpukur in the Nadia district of West Bengal were among these “lost” ruins, Sharma told when asked about them, reports IBT.
As per the Ministry’s prepared list of these lost sites, eleven of them are in Uttar Pradesh. Whereas Haryana, Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have two missing monuments each.
The remaining five were in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
A report quoted conservationists as saying that urbanisation “has made it very difficult to trace such monuments.” Eventually, parts of the historical site are “swallowed up” when buildings come up very near to them, the conservationists added.
The report also quoted senior Culture Ministry officials as saying that another reason for their disappearance is the “routine encroachment”.
The Minister reported in Lok Sabha about eight such encroachments over the past five years in monuments protected by the Central government. His ministry had partially removed those encroachments, Sharma claimed.
“They include Asafi Imambara in Lucknow, a mosque at Sakhakheda in Maharashtra, Mahadev Temple, Chaiturgarh Fort, Dantenshwari Devi Temple at Chattisgarh, D’Eremao Cemetery in Delhi, Mosque of Sarai Alaverdi Khan in Haryana and Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, Karnataka,” according to the report.