NEW DELHI: The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture has taken serious note of the “lack of seriousness” shown by the Ministry of Culture while responding to its recommendations made to deal with “critical issues”.
The panel, in its report placed before the both the Houses in Parliament on Friday, asked the ministry to assess its approach and ensure that its report and suggestions are appropriately examined and implemented.
In the 363rd report, the 31-member committee headed by V Vijayasai Reddy of YSR Congress, observed that disregarding or trivialising its views undermines the trust, credibility and seriousness of the ministry “towards the development and preservation of the nation’s cultural heritage.”
“The committee expresses its deep concern and disappointment at this apparent lack of seriousness on the part of the ministry in responding to the committee’s recommendations addressing critical issues… The committee recommends the Ministry of Culture to re-evaluate its approach and ensure that the committee’s reports are acknowledged, thoroughly reviewed, and their recommendations implemented for the sustained development and preservation of our cultural heritage,” it read.
According to the panel, the ministry is yet to response to 14 recommendations made by it on issues such as maintenance of Centrally protected monuments under the jurisdiction of the Archeological Survey of India, vacant positions in the agency, and slow progress in drafting of heritage bylaws.
The committee noted that its 324th report on ‘Issues relating to Untraceable Monuments and Protection of Monuments in India’ was forwarded to the ministry for necessary action in June last year. However, the ministry not only failed to send an interim reply within the stipulated period of three months, but also failed to respond to the multiple reminders issued by the secretariat since then, the report stated.
“Further, the ministry could manage to provide Action Taken Notes on only 21 out of the total of 35 recommendations as contained in the 324th report by October 4, 2023. That is, after a period of one year and 19 days,” stated the report.
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