The Ministry of Culture has announced seven new circles of Archaeological Survey of India. The Union Minister of State shared this information for Culture and Tourism (IC), Prahlad Singh Patel in a video message tweeted by him today. He said that “the Ministry of Culture has taken this step following the Prime Minister’s call to facilitate and strengthen the process of preservation and registration of archaeological monuments along with registration of artefacts with the self-declaration”.
He also informed that new circles had been created in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat. Trichy, Raiganj, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Jhansi & Meerut have been announced as new circles. “In Archaeological Survey, the Hampi city in Karnataka is a place of international repute hence Hampi Mini Circle has been converted into a full-fledged circle”, he added. Earlier there were 29 ASI circles across the country.
Prahlad Singh Patel said that “in a large state like Tamil Nadu which has thousands of temples and glorious memories of the Chola kings, Trichy has been made a new circle along with the circle of Chennai. Karnataka is an important state in terms of holiness, Hampi city in Karnataka is a place of international importance from archaeological heritage. Therefore, the Hampi Sub-Circle now has been made a new full-fledged circle, In West Bengal, Raiganj has been made a new circle along with Kolkata, this will eliminate geographical inconvenience in a big state like Bengal, In Gujarat, Rajkot has been announced a new circle along with Vadodara”.
“Jabalpur has been announced a new circle along with Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh” he added. This will include the monuments from Jabalpur, Rewa, Shahdol and Sagar divisions. He also informed that Jhansi in Bundelkhand and Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh had been announced two new circles along with Lucknow and Agra in Uttar Pradesh.
(Source: PIB)
