NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JAN 23
The Madras High Court has directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to have a dialogue with the Tamil Nadu government to ascertain the possibilities of sharing the Rs. 8 crore revenue generated from the Mamallapuram monuments with the local administration for the upkeep and maintenance of the site here on Wednesday.
A division bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice R. Suresh Kumar passed the order on a suo motu plea initiated to preserve the beauty and safeguard and protect tourists visiting the town.
When the plea came up for hearing, G. Karthikeyan, Assistant Solicitor-General of India, submitted that ASI generated revenue of Rs. 8.14 crore from collection of entry fee from tourists visiting the monuments in 2018-19.
The revenue was Rs. 6.65 crore in 2017-18 and Rs. 5.98 crore in 2016-17. For 2019-20, we have generated Rs. 6.87 crore till December last, Karthikeyan said.
He pointed out that while ASI is generating income by collecting entry fee from visitors, the local panchayat is also generating income by collecting entry and parking fee from vehicles entering the site.
ASI is taking care of maintenance of monuments in the site annually and periodically, besides 411 other monuments across the state. The revenue collected is being deposited in the consolidated funds of the Union government and it would not plough back to ASI. Therefore, it is not possible to share any revenue collected from the entry fee, Karthikeyan said.
Recording the submission, the bench adjourned the hearing of the case to February 25.
