World Heritage Day: 'No disaster damaged any heritage structure in Mysuru, but man-made conflicts pose greater threats', says Devaraju

Mysuru: Commissioner for Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage A Devaraju on Friday said Karnataka would soon be the first state in India to list and document all archaeological remains and evidence in all villages.

He was speaking during the inaugural function of a special lecture to mark World Heritage Day orgainsed by Karnataka State Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage department, in association with the Mysuru local centre of Institution of Engineers (IEI) at the department auditorium on Dasara Exhibition Grounds in Mysuru on Friday.

Devaraju said among 236 taluks, a survey of archaeological remains and evidence is completed in all villages of 119 taluks. “The survey in the remaining taluks will be completed soon,” he said.

He also added that Karnataka is a pioneer in several aspects of archaeology, museums, and heritage and has implemented the ‘adopt a monument’ scheme allowing even individuals to fund conservation and maintenance of historical monuments by amending the Karnataka Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act.

“With 848 ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains of State importance, and 609 Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) sites, Karnataka has the second highest number of protected monuments in India. The Zonal Regulations were amended in 2020 to establish Heritage Conservation Committees (HCC) in all districts. The HCCs are responsible for identifying and preserving heritage sites, buildings, and precincts. The amendment is a step towards strengthening heritage protection in Karnataka, to ensure preservation of the state's cultural and historical heritage. However, only in Mysuru HCC was formed, which has already listed 129 heritage structures of Mysuru city. HCCs will be constituted in other districts soon,” he said.

“There is a proposal before the State government to declare 1,000 unprotected monuments as ‘protected. Besides, the department is protecting 50 to 60 monuments in Karnataka every year. The ‘protected’ tag is necessary for ‘legal protection and conservation’ of heritage sites,” Devaraju said.

On augmented reality, he department has prepared augmented reality (AR) cards to educate the people. “One can scan the QR code on it to download the FlippAR Go app. One can scan the card, which is like old post cards, to learn about the particular heritage site. The cards can be posted to one’s near and dear ones to spread awareness on our history and heritage. More sites would become a part of the AR revolution shortly,” he said.

Talking about the theme of the year ‘Heritage under Threat from Disasters and Conflicts: Preparedness and Learning from 60 Years of ICOMOS Actions’, Devaraju said, Mysuru is losing some of its heritage structures, like Lansdowne Building, Devaraja Market, Maharani’s College, and Fire Brigade Building, due to conflicts among experts, people’s representatives, officials and other stakeholders.

“No disaster has damaged any heritage structure in Mysuru, but man-made conflicts are more severe than disasters,” he said.

Chairman of department of Studies in Ancient History and Archaeology Shalvapille Iyengar, conservation architect Sharath Chandra of Heritage Matters, IEI programme convenor N S Mahadevaswamy and coordinator M Chinnaswamy were present.