Protest Against the ‘Adopt A Heritage’ Scheme in Assam over Kaziranga National Park and Other Monuments
Guwahati, Assam
News Update: 02-May-2018
The decision to put up the world heritage sites and important monuments of Assam for adoption by the Central government has angered the people of Assam and triggered a massive protest in the state. Under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ Scheme, the center has decided to give away the Kaziranga National Park, a world heritage site and three other national monuments in Assam to the private entity like corporate houses, private firms for their maintenance, but the decision has been facing an immense protest from the local people of Assam.
The Kaziranga National Park and Ahom-era monuments situated in the Sivasagar district of Assam are the prominent tourist destinations in Assam and draws thousands of tourists every year. On the Wednesday, the state has witnessed the protests at various locations in Assam against this decision. People believe that this decision is destructive for these monuments as well as harm the tourism industry in the state.
The Wildlife activists, local people and many groups of civil society are protesting against this decision and they also staged a demonstration outside of these monuments on Wednesday. They had expressed their anger against the government’s decision by shouting anti-government slogans accusing them of auctioning and privatizing the historical monuments of their state. One such society, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity warned the government of the massive protest to oppose any such moves of the center to hand over these historical and world heritage sites to a private entity.
Wildlife activists and enthusiasts of Kaziranga National Park feared that this decision would be devastating for the wildlife of Assam. As per the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme launched by the central government, the world heritage sites, the monuments of National importance, National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, and Reserve Forests in the country will be given to the private sectors for their maintenance.
Three monuments of Assam have been identified to be handed over to a private company for the maintenance and management under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ Scheme. The auction and handover process will be accomplished in the four phases. These three historical monuments of Assam are the Kaziranga National Park, the Ahomera Shiva temple Shiva Doul, a 8th century Amphitheatre Rang Ghar and the Ahom royal palace Kareng Ghar.
