Preservation and restoration of Hampi ruins have received a major boost with two UN organizations agreeing to chip in with funds equal to what the Hampi Foundation of the Jindal South West Steel Ltd (JSW) is contributing.
The Global Heritage Fund and the World Monuments Fund will together contribute Rs 10 crore, while Hampi Foundation will give Rs 10 crore. “If all clearances come through quickly, preservation/restoration works on three Hampi temples can be completed in two years,” said Sangita Jindal, chairperson of JSW Foundation on Saturday.
A two-day conference on Hampi , “Taking Vijayanagara’s Past into the Future”, organized at Jindal Nagar, is debating ways and means to revive the world-famous Hampi ruins. Hampi Foundation has offered to take up preservation/ restoration of the Chandramouleeshwara Temple, Krishna Temple and Someshwar Temple.
While a proposal to restore the first temple was put forward to the Archaeological Survey of India in 2005, a second proposal to restore the other two temples was put forward in 2006. While clearances are awaited for the second and third temple, design for the preservation of the Chandramouleeshwara Temple has been completed and work has begun.
Commenting on the funding for the restoration projects, Sangita Jindal said: “It is a 50:50 contribution of an Indian private organization and two world bodies. It is for the first time that a foreign fund has been approved in the restoration of a heritage site in Karnataka. The foreign fund will be whetted by the Reserve Bank of India before it is used.”
While Hampi Foundation has been working at a feverish pace to get restoration work off the ground, the response from ASI has not been as fast. “We have had to wait for too long for clearances — ranging from one to three years. Projects are not taking off as fast as we would like. But we will certainly work with the ASI to see the projects through,” Sangita said.
The Hampi Foundation is also working on a plan to train guides for the heritage site and set up a museum and Interpretation Centre. The plans are ready but permission has to come through.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com
Jindal offers to build Bellary-Hospet Road
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Jindal Nagar:
The Jindal South West Steel Ltd (JSW) has offered to lay the battered road between Bellary and Hospet to boost tourism and other industrial activities.
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Times Of India Bangalore |
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Senior Jindal official Vinod Nowal told reporters on Saturday that JSW had forwarded a proposal to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that it would build the road of 60-odd km on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis. “We will use the entire money of Rs 80-90 crore for building the road. We can make it a toll road to enable its maintenance. We won’t be making any profit out of this except that we hope to have more people come to Hampi or encourage trade activity because of better infrastructure,” Nowal said.
Even if toll is collected, it won’t make up the Rs 90-crore spending by JSW as the volume of traffic on the road is not that high. It makes sense for a private company to build a road when it is sure that it can make up the money by high traffic — but JSW is not looking for profits on this sector. JSW proposes to make it a two lane road in the first phase and a four laner in the second. The four-lane project would cost Rs 500 crore and has for that reason been deferred in the proposed first phase action plan.
Dislodging people from core site
won’t be easy: Prakash
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Jindal Nagar:
Former deputy chief minister M P Prakash has said it could be difficult to dislocate people from core areas of the Hampi heritage site though something had to be worked out to ensure it wouldn’t be affected by the population factor.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating a two-day conference on Hampi heritage on Saturday, Prakash said people for long had been celebrating festivals at the Hampi temple and living close to the Bazaar Street. “More than 50,000 to 1 lakh people would have to be moved out. It would be a bit difficult, but I understand something has to be done about protecting the core of Hampi site.”
For people living close to the Bazaar Street of the heritage site, Prakash said government had requested them to remove zinc sheets, thatched roofs and any external object while keeping the inside of the houses intact. They could still feel that they are part of the Bazaar Street while making some changes in their daily life.
Prakash expressed concern at some UNESCO officials making recommendations on Hampi heritage site while not being completely familiar with its history and topography. “Some self-appointed experts do this. But they have to understand the local dynamics. We have found that some of their reports have not been up to the mark. It is sad that almost Rs 40 lakh has been spent on preparing such reports. Of course, we could use some of the ground work done there to evolve new locally suitable protection methods,” Prakash said.
He urged UNESCO to spend more money on the actual protection of the Hampi site than on the preparation of drawings and sketches. Nearly $80,000 have been spent on that. “Why can’t UNESCO spend on Hampi as much as it spends on heritage sites in other parts of the world?” Prakash asked.
The state government, meanwhile, has offered Rs 3 lakh an acre as
compensation to land owners and farmers who have
parted with their land for
further excavation.
What the conference is all about
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Times Of India Bangalore |
- It’s the first international action-oriented academic conference on Hampi heritage at Hampi.
- The conference gives an opportunity to administrators, archaeologists, architects, contractors, craftsmen and people to participate in the restoration of Hampi.
- The conference brings together leading scholars from India and abroad who will present papers on areas ranging from art and architecture to epigraphy and conservation.
- Anthropologist John Fritz will present his views on the Hampi archaeological atlas project, George Michell on early photography at Vijayanagara, Anila Verghese on the construct and evolution of space at Hampi and Anna Dallapiccola on ceiling paintings in the Virupaksha Temple. Abha Narain Lambah, conservation architect, will speak on public-private conservation projects and Shama Pawar on the Anigundi conservation project. The event will have a presentation on the tourism business in Karnataka by Ravi Kulkarni.
- The Hampi Foundation was set up in 2000 to formulate a comprehensive masterplan for the management of Hampi heritage. The masterplan is about to be finalised. The Foundation also sponsors Hampi Utsav.
Please direct media inquiries to:
GHF Press press@globalheritagefund.org
or (650) 325 7520
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