Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 12: Coming down heavily on the Archeological department over the spate of large scale violations of Ancient Monuments Act in Jammu division in connivance with the Government functionaries, the activists of State Legal Aid Committee (SLAC) staged a vociferous protest demonstration in front of the office of the Superintendent, Archeological Survey of India (ASI) at Gandhi Nagar.
Expressing anguish over the contemptuous mockery of the Act, Advocate Kesar Parveen, an activist of the committee, pointed out that within the purview of the Act, the area from the protected limit of the monument/site extending to a distance of 100 meters in all directions is declared as ‘prohibited area’ and further distance of 200 meters from the prohibited area is declared as ‘regulated area’ thereby making these provisions mandatory on prohibition and regulation of construction, repair, renovation and mining activities around these defined areas.
“However, the provisions of the Ancient Monument Act are being brazenly violated with impunity and dozens of structures have come up during the last 3-4 years in prohibited and regulated areas in utter disregard of the Act”, Kesar Parveen said and appealed the concerned official to initiate punitive measures against the culprits otherwise SLAC shall be forced to take the legal remedy against the department.
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