TIRUCHY: The Union government on Wednesday acceded to the long-pending demand of archaeologists. politicians and public by announcing bifurcation of the Chennai ASI circle and create a new circle with Tiruchy as headquarters. Prahlad Singh Patel, MoS Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of India announced the decision on Twitter.
Home to 251 monuments and 160 sites of archaeological importance, the Chennai circle of ASI is one of the largest circles in the country. Stakeholders in central and southern parts of Tamil Nadu have been urging the union government to create a new circle, which would result in more fund flow and better maintenance. Their untiring efforts bore fruit on Wednesday.
"Keeping in mind that Tamil Nadu has glorious memories of Chola kings and 3 to 4 thousand-year-old temples, ASI has made Tiruchy as a new circle to the state along with the Chennai circle," Patel said in the tweet.
R Komagan, chairman of Gangaikondacholapuram Development Council and a patron who has been fighting for the cause, was pleasantly surprised at the development. "We placed a request before the Union government for creation of a new circle in Tamil Nadu around 2012. We are extremely happy that a circle has been established and we thank the government. A special thanks to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for taking special interest and support to our endeavor."
Experts claim that the new circle would bring more structures and monuments under ASI maintenance. "There are several ancient temples, monuments, habitation sites, burial sites and rock painting sites in Tiruchy, Pudukkottai, Madurai and Thanjavur without any attention. By creating a new circle, more funding will be available for the ASI to add these structures into the ambit and maintain them. This will also prevent damage as officials will be available at hand to to attend to any situation," Komagan added.
Tiruchy MP Su Thirunavukarasar who met officials regarding the issue earlier this year said, this was also the first step towards making Tiruchy as the second capital of the state. Speaking to TNIE, Thirunavukarasar, said, "We are extremely happy that a new ASI circle has been created and this is the first step towards making Tiruchy as the second capital of the State. This will drastically improve the allocation of funds and maintenance. Once the officials are appointed and the office is set-up, I will suggest to them to take over several monuments which are currently without attention and create tourist spots."
Meanwhile, ASI officials said the creation of a new circle would turn the spotlight on western and southern parts of Tamil Nadu as staff strength would increase and departments that were currently present in Chennai will be available even in Tiruchy. Few changes which would take place upon creation of a new circle are an office of the Superintending Archaeologist, a chemical officer, a research department, a conversation department, and an excavation department.
A senior ASI official said, " It is an extremely significant move to create a new circle as TN is home to over 400 archaeological monuments and the largest in the country. We will be available to provide special focus, add more structure and collect more funding. Although further details regarding the bifurcation is yet to be informed, the jurisdiction for each circle could be divided by taking the Cauvery river or the Vellaru river as the center point."