VISAKHAPATNAM: Former union energy secretary EAS Sarma on Tuesday said that the State government has proposed to construct a housing complex and a VIP guest house on 30 acres of land in Survey No 314 (Old) of Kapuluppada village near ancient Thotlakonda Buddhist site.
In a letter to Chief Secretary Neelam Sahwney, he said he had reminded the government that all the land within Survey No 314 (Old) of Kapuluppada village was notified vide GO No 627 dated May 2, 1978, issued under the AP Ancient and Historical Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960, and any proposal to divert any part of it for the “executive capital” or for any housing complex would be a violation of the Act.
The Survey No. 314 area is rich in archaeological evidence relating to the Buddhist era of the 3rd century BC, he said. This issue has come up time and again before the High Court. The HC, in an order on November 29, 2016 (WP No. 173/2016), directed the government not to take up construction in the particular stretch.
Sarma said any attempt to interfere with it could efface evidence to the detriment of public interest. As per the central law and notifications issued thereunder, another 300 metre of a buffer zone comprising ‘protected’, ‘prohibited’ and ‘regulated’ zones should also be left untouched.
The Supreme Court, in Jan 16, 2012 (CA No. 2431/2006), reiterated this and directed the authorities not to violate the same.
The need to protect the notified area had been justified by Lars Fogelin, an anthropologist who carried out a survey around the Thotlakonda site and discovered over 120 micro sites belonging to the Buddhist era located within Survey No. 314. Urging the government not to go ahead with the proposed construction, failing which, he said, judicial intervention would be sought.