No signboards at Hampi's heritage sites

Signboards and information plaques explaining the significance of monuments to tourists visiting Hampi, the City of Ruins, have been either damaged beyond repair or are misleading.

Thousands of tourists and history buffs from different parts of the country and overseas visit the heritage city daily to catch a glimpse of its glorious past. But lack of proper information on the monuments and the routes to the sites have left most visitors high and dry.

While a few signboards and plaques put up near the monuments have collapsed, a few others have rusted. Some of the road signboards put up at vantage points to guide visitors have changed the direction, misleading the tourists.

Spare a thought for the first-time visitors to Hampi. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is entrusted with maintenance and renovation of the architectural marvel of the erstwhile Vijayanagar Empire, had installed signboards and information plaques near most of the monuments spread over 41.8 sq km. But the ASI has done precious little to keep the boards in good shape.

There are hundreds of monuments in Hampi. But the tourists are finding it difficult to learn more about them due to poor maintenance of the signboards erected near the temples and monuments, laments Ganesh Ayyappa, a history buff from Kodagu.

Constant exposure to the vagaries of weather has eroded paint and words written on the signboards erected  across the World Heritage site.

The signboards installed near the Virupaksheshwara Temple, Edaru Basavanna, Saalu Mantap, Pushkarini, Hemakuta, Saasivekalu and Kadalekaalu Ganapa, Ugra Narasimha, Rani Snanagriha, Kamalmahal, Hajararam, Vijaya Vittala Temple complex among others are in a deplorable condition and they haven’t seen repair or renovation for the past several years.

ASI promises repair

N C Prakash Nayakand, Deputy Superintendent, ASI, Hampi (zone), told Deccan Herald, “The ASI has prepared an action plan for repair and maintenance of signboards and information plaques. Repair work will be taken up during the current fiscal year itself.”