REPORT NO. 211 PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, TOURISM AND CULTURE TWO HUNDRED ELEVENTH REPORT Upkeep of various Monuments in Delhi, National Museum and other important issues pertaining to the Ministry of Culture (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 19th February, 2014) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 19th February, 2014) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi February, 2014/Magha, 1935 (Saka) Website: http://rajyasabha.nic.in E-mail: [email protected] 61 Hindi version of this publication is also available PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, TOURISM AND CULTURE TWO HUNDRED ELEVENTH REPORT Upkeep of various Monuments in Delhi, National Museum and other important issues pertaining to the Ministry of Culture (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 19th February, 2014) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 19th February, 2014) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi February, 2014/Magha, 1935 (Saka) CONTENTS PAGES 1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ..................................................................................... (i)-(ii) 2. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... (iii) 3. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... (iv) 4. REPORT ................................................................................................................................ 1—12 5. OBSERVATIONS/CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE — AT A GLANCE ... 13—19 6. Annexure–I and II ............................................................................................................ 21—37 7. MINUTES .............................................................................................................................. 39—41 8. LIST OF REPORTS ............................................................................................................... 42—60 COMPOSITION OF THE DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT, TOURISM AND CULTURE (2013-14) 1. Shri Sitaram Yechury — Chairman RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri Shashi Bhusan Behera 3. Shri Kunal Kumar Ghosh 4. Shri Narendra Kumar Kashyap 5. Prof. Alka Balram Kshatriya 6. Shri Aayanur Manjunatha 7. Shri V. Hanumantha Rao 8. Shri Satish Sharma 9. Shrimati Bimla Kashyap Sood 10. Shrimati Vasanthi Stanley LOK SABHA 11. Yogi Adityanath 12. Shri Sisir Kumar Adhikari 13. Shri Ghanshyam Anuragi 14. Shri Subrata Bakshi 15. Shri Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary 16. Shrimati Tabassum Hasan 17. Dr. Mahesh Joshi 18. Shri M. Krishnaswamy 19. Shri G.V. Harsha Kumar 20. Shri S. Pakkirappa 21. Shri Prabodh Panda 22. Shri Deoraj Singh Patel 23. Shri Adhalrao Shivaji Patil 24. Shri Nilesh N. Rane 25. Shri Modugula Venugopala Reddy 26. Shri Madan Lal Sharma 27. Shri Dushyant Singh 28. Shri Rakesh Singh 29. Shri Shatrughan Sinha 30. Shri K. Sudhakaran 31. Shri Dinesh Trivedi (i) (ii) SECRETARIAT Shri N.K. Singh, Joint Secretary Shri Swarabji B., Joint Director Dr. (Shrimati) Subhashree Panigrahi, Joint Director Shrimati Catherine John L., Assistant Director Shri T. Kennedy Jesudossan, Committee Officer Shri P.P. Raumon, Committee Officer INTRODUCTION I, the Chairman, Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, having been authorised by the Committee to present on its behalf, do hereby present this Two Hundred and Eelventh Report on “Upkeep of various Monuments in Delhi, National Museum and other important issues pertaining to the Ministry of Culture”. 2. The Committee in the first chapter of this Report has dealt with upkeep of various important monuments in Delhi. Most of the issues raised here were under examination of the Committee for a long time and recently the Committee heard the views of the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and INTACH on 27th January, 2014 on the subject. Similarly, the portion pertaining to the National Museum is also based on the replies received from the Ministry of Culture on the 167th and the 179th Reports of the Committee. Given the crucial importance of the subject, the Committee has made further observations/recommendations in this Report for follow up action. 3. The Committee has also dealt with several outstanding issues on which recommendations were given in various Reports earlier but, those have not been implemented fully. The Committee understands that if implemented, it will go a long way in protecting the cultural heritage of the country and the interface of culture with tourism will certainly be better. 4. The Committee is thankful to the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism for their written and oral replies/submissions on different occasions. The Committee is also thankful to Aga Khan Trust and INTACH for their participation in the meeting. 5. The Committee considered and adopted the Report in its meeting held on the 18th February, 2014. SITARAM YECHURY NEW DELHI; Chairman, February 18, 2014 Department-related Parliamentary Standing Magha 29, 1935 (Saka) Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture (iii) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A.D. – Anno Domini A.S.I. – Archaeological Survey of India C.A.A. – Civil Aviation Authority D.D.A. – Delhi Development Authority H.R.D. – Human Resource Development INTACH – Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage M.C.D. – Muncipal Corporation of Delhi N.C.T. – National Capital Territory N.D.M.C. – New Delhi Municipal Corporation O.M. – Office Memorandum UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization W.H.C. – World Heritage Centre (iv) 1 REPORT CHAPTER-I Conservation, Preservation and Protection of important Monuments in Delhi Introduction Cultural heritage of a nation, in fact, is the medium to understand the sublime facet of history of a country and its people, which is manifested in myriad forms of creativity and excellence. Therefore, the conservation, upkeep and maintenance of our historical monuments assumes greater significance and hence a national concern. The Committee has been of the view that highest peace time destruction of cultural assets has taken place in India during the British colonial period, particularly, after the First War of Independence in 1857. Today, this era of rabid consumerism and crass commercialization have posed serious threats to the existence of our cultural heritage and resources. India is not an exception in this regard. It has been a common perception that we in India know how to build great monuments but we are unable to protect and preserve them. Our performance has been rather unimpressive in respect of their upkeep and maintenance. Our monuments are symbols of our great and rich past. It appears that we no longer take pride in our cultural heritage which is reflected in our unkempt cultural sites. Nothing is more enduring in the perception of a visiting tourist than aesthetically maintained monuments and their adjoining premises. There are myriads of tangible and intangible aspects having cascading effect for our economy. Yet, our premium monuments and historical and cultural sites are facing serious threats to their existence due to negligence. 2. The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture had always emphasised on many other problems apart from the protection, preservation, upkeep and the facilities available to tourists at our major monuments. The Committee in its meetings held from time to time had emphasised on these and other matters concerning our major monuments and the cultural sites. The interface between the Ministry of Culture with the Ministry of Tourism and other agencies has been important concern from the perspective of developing tourism in the country. The major issues discussed before the Ministry of Culture and the Committee’s recommendations thereon have been given in the succeeding paragraphs:– Upkeep of Red Fort 3. The Committee’s concern about upkeep, maintenance, the renovation of our premier cultural sites in Delhi is well known through its different reports. Recently, it had a meeting with the officials of Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism to take stock of the arrangements made at these sites. The Red Fort was deliberately converted into military barracks leading to reckless encroachment and defacement of its original beauty. Efforts have been made to restore it but, much is still to be done on ground to revive the lost grandeur of this monument. 4. The Committee recommends that efforts should be made by the Ministry to get back the original Mughal era charm of Red Fort. This can happen only when its surrounding is also developed tastefully in a contemporaneous style of the Monument. It is a sad story that nothing has been done to renovate this great monument and compensate for the loss and deliberate destruction that took place during the colonial period by converting it into military barracks. The Committee recommends that the Ministries of Culture and Tourism should make a joint effort for this purpose. The Committee emphasises the need to 2 integrate the Red Fort to Shahjahanabad as the entire Mughal City, including Red Fort, has been nominated as part of a World Heritage City of Delhi. 5. The Committee also took note of several important museums like Freedom Fighter’s Museum, Indian War Memorial Museum and Red Fort Archaeological Museum housed