By Poojil Tiwari
Historians and archaeologists have expressed deep discontent over the amendments proposed to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR, 1958). The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on 2nd January, seeks to make changes that go against the idea of preserving cultural and historical heritage. Calling the bill an illogical and irrational move, experts say that a preservation system needs to be put into place before the government can go about implementing the amendments to the AMASR.
A look at the new bill
The bill was necessitated when the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) refused to allow for the construction of a six-lane highway on the Delhi-Kanpur highway near Akbars tomb in Sikandra in Uttar Pradesh. On 18th July 2017, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Parliament by the Minister for Tourism and Culture. The primary area of contention is the amendment to the existing AMASR act that allows for construction to be conducted for public purposes in what was previously defined as prohibited areas. Section 20(A) of the 1958 Act defines a prohibited area as the area of 100 metres around a protected monument. This was further compounded by an amendment made in 2010 that created statutory buffer zones up to 300 metres around the monument.
Additionally, the bill also expands the definition of public works to include the construction of any infrastructure that is financed and carried out by the central government for public purposes. Furthermore, what is extremely problematic is the obligatory power given to the National Monuments Authority (NMA) under the new bill. The NMA has only been given the cursory power of making a report on whether a construction comes under the ambit of power works while the final say rests with the central government.
Promoting developmental infrastructure v/s protecting monuments
The statement and objects of the bill introduced by the government stated that the existing AMASR was creating hindrances to many public works projects. However, historians and archaeologists believe that the government in its blind quest for urbanisation is compromising with the protection of these ancient monuments. The very idea of the creation of a prohibited zone is to prevent ancient monuments from the mechanical stress, automobile fumes, heavy vibrations and chemical changes.
The visual damage this step would bring will be enormous and nothing can justify it. There should be proper rationalized criteria on issue of skyline. It is done all over the worldthere are restrictions to protect the visual line, flow of water and other natural systems. All these are very important issues. Not just the skyline, there are possibilities of damages to the foundation of monuments which have stood strong for thousands of years. The main issue is about protecting monuments. said K.T. Ravindran, the former chairman of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission. Historians fear that the bill can be misused by builders to facilitate varied types of construction under the new definition of public works. Furthermore, allowing infrastructure to be constructed around protected monuments also reduces the scope for further excavation thereby restricting cultural progress.
A CAG report published in 2013 stated that 92 historical monuments had gone missing as a result of developmental activities around them. The same report had also highlighted the problem of understaffing in the ASI. Furthermore, official numbers state that 321 historical monuments have already been encroached upon. Given that the state of ancient monuments in the country is already in ruins, the callousness with which the new amendments treat the cultural heritage of the country is shocking.
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