Government bill seeks to allow work in protected areas

New Delhi: In a significant move which could facilitate infrastructure projects within prohibited areas around protected monuments, the government on Tuesday introduced a bill in Lok Sabha seeking to allow the Centre to take up projects in such zones.

The prohibition of new construction within protected areas or protected monuments is adversely affecting various public works and developmental projects of the central government, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill’s Statement of Objects and Reasons said.

The bill states that amendments have been proposed in the legislation to the 1958 Act that prohibits any public work or project essential to the public or other constructions in areas around protected monuments.

A “prohibited area” means land within the 100-metre radius of a protected monument.  Currently, construction is not allowed in such areas except for repair and renovation works.

The Centre has said that the need was felt to amend the law to allow “construction works related to infrastructure, financed and carried out by any department or office of the central government for public purposes, which is necessary for the safety or security of the public at large”.

Besides, such construction works would be taken up when there is no possibility of any other viable alternative to such construction.

The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2017, also seeks to have a new definition of “public works” under the Act.

There are more than 3,600 monuments and sites that are centrally-protected under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India, which is responsible for their maintenance.