ASI plans to give facelift to Taj Mahal, 90 other monuments
The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is planning to give a facelift to at least 91 Centrally protected monuments by ensuring cleanliness all around and establishment of toilet blocks in all the selected monuments.
Monuments like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Akbar’s Tomb in Agra, Qutub Complex, Safdarjung Tomb, Humayun’s Tomb, Purana Quila in Delhi, Ajanta and Ellora caves in Aurangabad, Chittorgarh Fort in Jodhpur, Hazardwari Palace in Murshidabad, West Bengal, Elephanta caves in Mumbai, Pari Mahal, Ram Nagar palace in Srinagar are amongst the many selected for the facelift. Even the notso-famous monuments like Rang Ghar, Sibsagar in Guwahati, Diu Fort, Rani-ki-Vav, Patan in Vadodra, Martand Temple, Kashmir, Lakshman Temple, Sirpur in Raipur, Adina Masjid in Malda, West Bengal, among some others, have also been chosen by the ASI for ensuring cleanliness.
The ASI has decided to take up this job on a war footing after a lot of complaints were received from visitors about monuments being left unclean.
A senior ASI official told The Sunday Guardian, “We have decided to take up this work on a priority basis because we had been receiving a number of complaints on the issue of cleanliness. Visitors had often complained about there being no toilets, or that the toilets in some of these monuments are unusable.”
In this regard, the ASI has sent out advertisements and has also released tenders for hiring contractors that would be responsible for the cleanliness and maintenance of toilet blocks in all the selected monuments. According to sources in the ASI, the terms of contract for the work this time have been kept very strict given the fact that earlier, complaints of lackadaisi- cal attitude of the contractor had been received from time to time which hampered the work at the sites. A source in the ASI said, “The terms of the tender for contract have been set very strict this time. We have maintained that enterprises that would like to take up the job should have at least five years’ experience in the same field and more the experience, the higher would be the points. Moreover, we have also set rules for strict vigil by the supervisor at every site where the supervisor on duty would have to take rounds of the entire place every one hour, all employees under the enterprise would have to report to work on time and strict information on the dos and don’ts at work have also been set.”
“Not only this, we have also set guidelines for the way the work has to be done to ensure that the quality of work does not deteriorate with time. For this, regular checking would also be maintained at the site and if any contractor is found to be flouting norms, he would be terminated. We have done this to ensure the quality of work remains intact throughout,” the source added.