PANJIM: Welcoming the Centre’s move to permit the adoption of six Goan monuments under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) cautioned that the project should not result in denying people access to these historical sites.
TTAG also said that the ‘Monument Mitra’ scheme should make a distinction between religious and non-religious structures before putting them up for adoption.
“Adopt a monument scheme of the Centre by itself is a very good idea. There is need to privatise the upkeep of heritage and historical monuments across India, including Goa, considering that there are national as well as state-protected monuments,” TTAG said in a statement.
“But in no case should such a policy dilute the ownership of the State and result in denying public access to the monuments and our heritage. The government needs to distinguish between religious and the non-religious historical monuments,” it added.
TTAG has further said that there should be a transparent policy for selecting the corporate or private entity entrusted with such monuments while stating that profit should not be the motive and it should purely be a CSR exercise by the corporate.
The association further said that State-protected documents should be left to the State government to decide, even though TTAG felt that it is advisable for the State to follow the same policy for improvement of the upkeep of its monuments.
The State government has convened a meeting next week of officials, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and others to discuss the issue.
