ASI-protected historical monuments and archaeological sites in India declared polythene free zones
The Union ministry has issued an advisory to all state Governments/UTs to support the ASI in maintaining the rule that areas up to 300 meters from the protected boundaries of the monuments should be kept polythene free.
Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism and Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Rural Development and Drinking Water & Sanitation held a joint press conference on Thursday regarding the Swachhata Pakhwada, Sep 16 – 30, 2016 and the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Dr Sharma said that the Union Ministry of Culture has sanctioned Rs.350 crores to provide facilities like protected boundaries, toilets and disabled-friendly access in all ASI Protected Monuments.
Work has been awarded to PSUs like WAPCOS and TCIL who have been directed to complete the work in the current financial year 2016-17.
Dr Sharma said that ASI has ranked top 25 Adarsh Monuments on the basis of cleanliness parameters such as toilets, green lawns, polythene free zone, signage for awareness, disabilities access, drinking water and provision for garbage bins etc.
“Rani ki Vav (Gujarat)” a World Heritage Site has been declared as the cleanest iconic place in the country.
Dr. Mahesh Sharma said that 75 more Adarsh Monuments protected by ASI have been identified to be included in the ‘Swachh Paryatan Mobile App’ launched by the Ministry of Tourism. With this, a total of 100 Adarsh Monuments protected by ASI will be included in the ‘Swachh Paryatan Mobile App’.
This App was launched in February 2016 and is monitored by the Project Monitoring Unit of Swachh Bharat Mission in Ministry of Tourism.
The Minister said that since the general public and the tourists are the largest stakeholders in keeping the monuments clean, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to facilitate the general public to communicate their complaints about any unclean area/garbage piles in and around tourist destinations.
This useful mobile App enables a citizen to take photograph of garbage at the monument and upload the same along with his/her remarks. The application then sends an SMS to the ASI Nodal Officer concerned with the monument upon receipt of which the Nodal Officer gets the garbage cleared/removed. The Nodal Officer thereafter sends confirmation about the redressal of the complaint through an SMS to the complainant. This Mobile App is available on Google Search Engine as ‘Swachh Paryatan’.
Dr. Sharma said that on completion of two years of Swachhata Abhiyan, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism have taken up various initiatives, such as (i) creating permanent mechanism of cleanliness for all organisations under Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism; (ii) to spread awareness through various cultural activities by involving all their organisations; and (iii) spread of swachhata awareness through music, dance and drama by their academies/institutions and maintaining cleanliness at all ASI Protected Monuments etc.
N.K Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Parmeshwaran Nair, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and senior officers from these ministries were present on the occasion.
A promotional film made by IGNCA on the theme “Swachhata Devatva Ek Samaan” to promote awareness of Swachhata at religious places was also shown on the occasion.
Image: PIB
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