Srinagar, May 22: The government has earmarked a corpus of Rs 50 crore for conservation and preservation of rich heritage assets of the State, of which Rs 2 crore stand released for the purpose.
 Minister for Tourism, Nawang Rigzin Jora revealed this while chairing second meeting of the members of Heritage Conservation and Preservation Authority (HC &PA) here today.
 Jora, according to an official statement, said that three heritage sites one each in Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh regions would be taken for conservation purposes under the Authority.
 In this regard, he directed concerned to prepare conservation plans for approval of the Government at the earliest.
 Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Home, Nasir Aslam Wani  and also Vice Chairman of HC&PA was present in the meeting.
 The meeting was informed that 651 monuments and heritage places in the State have been identified by the Archives department during 2009 and it was decided that available data would be further upgraded as per the comprehensive format devised by the Authority.
 The meeting after thorough discussion approved the Draft Heritage Regulations of the Authority which will be examined by Law Department for its notification.
 It was informed that for this purpose a team of officers headed by former Director General of Archives and Arco-logy was deputed to Gujarat and Maharashtra States to studying their rules and regulations in vogue for conservation of heritage places in such States. It was also told that the draft regulations were published in local media for public opinion and suggestions in March 2012.
 The meeting decided that line departments and INTACH J&K Chapter would be asked for expediting listing of requisite information about heritage places etc to facilitate the authority for preparation of data bank.
 The meeting also discussed the issues pertaining to tentative listing of world heritage sites like Mughal Gardens in Srinagar, Hemis and Alchi Gumpas in Ladakh and ancient Buddhist site at Ambran Akhnoor in Jammu province.
 Speaking on the occasion, Jora stressed upon the concerned authorities to take all necessary steps for making the authority more vibrant in its functioning.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
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