TOI : ASI welcomes HC order on caves : Sept 8, 2007

ASI welcomes HC order on caves
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has expressed satisfaction
at the Bombay high court's directive to the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation to clear the sixth-century Jogeshwari caves of encroachment.

    "We are relieved by the court order and intend to start clearing the
encroachments with the help of the BMC,'' said ASI superintending
archaeologist (Mumbai circle) G S Narasimhan.

    A full-fledged slum colony with pucca brick houses and commercial
establishments has proliferated inside the heritage structure since the
1960s.

    The Jogeshwari caves are one of the longest rock-cut Brahminical caves
in India. "As the rock from which the caves were carved is of inferior
quality, the monument is susceptible to damage and must be preserved
carefully,'' Narasimhan pointed out. "But that can only happen only when the
shanties surrounding the protected monument are removed.''

    The bats that authoritatively hang upside down from the roof are the
other unwelcome intruders at the caves.

    The ASI plans to request the municipal corporation to divert the
drainage pipes installed in the slums above the caves so that effluents from
the shanties do not flow into the monument.

    Seepage is another major problem that has to be dealt with in future.

    toireporter@timesgroup.com

A FRESH BEGINNING: The ASI wants to clear encroachments with BMC help at the
Jogeshwari caves

Publication:Times Of India Mumbai; Date:Sep 8, 2007; Section:Times City;
Page Number:5

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