The Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch has said that, there are 985 ancient temples in the country declared as of national importance within the jurisdiction of Archaeological Survey of India assignable from 4th to 19th Century A.D. The details (state-wise) are at Annexure-I.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Smt. Katoch said, all the protected ancient temples declared as of national importance are in a good state of preservation and maintenance.
Fund spent on conservation, preservation, and maintenance of all the centrally protected monuments, including the temples across the country during the last three years and current year (State/UT-wise) is at Annexure-II.
The Minister said, the conservation and preservation of centrally protected temples including Gujarat is an ongoing process and presently all temples are in good state of preservation.
Basic facilities/amenities (e.g. drinking water, toilet blocks, facilities for physically challenged, pathways, cultural notice boards/signages, vehicle parking, cloak rooms, etc.) to the tourists visiting protected monuments and sites are regular activities which the Archaeological Survey of India undertakes, as per needs and resources.
Further, improvement and upgradation of these public amenities is a continuous process, where specific monuments are identified for the purpose every year.
Basic public facilities are available at all World Heritage Sites and ASI’s ticketed monuments, as also at majority of those protected monuments which are visited by a large numbers of tourists.
The fund allocated/released/utilised on conservation, preservation and environmental development, including providing of tourist amenities on centrally protected monuments/ sites in the country, during the last three years and the current year, is at Annexure-II.
