Oil's well for Agra monuments

Vijay Upadhyay

Agra.               After the Tata group's ambitious proposal to take over the conservation of the Taj Mahal, oil companies have now come forward to help the Archaeological Survey of India in the conservation of the remaining monuments in Agra.
     In a meeting of oil and natural gas companies of the country that was held in Agra this weekend, the oil companies proposed to take over the financial aspects of the conservation of major monuments of Agra, including emperor Akbar's mausoleum at Sikandra and the Itmad-ud-daullah, also known as the "Baby Taj", both of which have been included in the Union Government's priority list for inclusion in the World-Heritage list of the UNESCO.
     The Indian Oil Corporation has also proposed to take over the conservation of Akbar's lost city of Fatehpur Sikri while Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is keen on restarting the light & sound show at the Agra Fort that has been completely shut down since the past almost two years.
     But the Archaeological Survey of India is yet to acknowledge these proposals for conservation of its monuments by the oil companies. Talking to The Pioneer, SK Sharma, Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, ASI in Agra said that the ASI was yet to receive a formal proposal from any oil company for conservation of its monuments in Agra or elsewhere.
     He said that if such proposal for conservation was sent by any oil company, it could be considered only by the ASI headquarters where a Memorandum of Understanding would have to be signed between the oil company and the ASI.
     He said that at present, only the Tata group was directing the conservation at the Taj Mahal which had filed a similar MoU with the ASI and no other company was involved in conservation of any other monument of the town.
     He said that the ASI had already approved the proposal of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to re-start the Light & Sound Show at the Agra Fort and ITDC was in the process of developing a new script for the show.
     He said that though the ASI was yet to receive GAIL's proposal for hosting the show, it was not possible to hand over this project to GAIL at this point when ITDC was handling this project and preparing to install new machinery and laying out new wiring for the show at the pavilion adjacent to the Agra Fort's Diwan-e-Aam.

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