State, Centre likely to join hands to develop Rakhigarhi as tourist centre

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 19

The state government has decided to preserve the Harappan era site at Rakhigarhi village. Officials of the state Archaeological Department and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) visited the site today.

The team comprising Director General of the Archaeology and Museum Department Ashok Khemka and ASI regional director TR Sharma inspected the site and inquired about the significance of the artifacts that were recovered from the site.

Sources said the state government and the Union Culture Ministry were likely to join hands in developing the site as a tourist centre of international standards and also to set up a 3D museum which houses the recovered artifacts, articles and provide information about Harappan era people.

The villagers and archaeologists alleged that due to the lack of interest on the part of the governments, this site of international significance had faced much damage. “It will suffer irreparable loss if immediate steps to protect and preserve it are not taken,” an archeologist said.

A local resident Vajir Singh Sirohi, who has been associated with the excavation exercise for many years, said they had been demanding to set up a museum in the village. “It needs keen interest from the government to develop the village as a tourism hub. I hope that the departments concerned of the Central and state government would work jointly to develop the site which needs a lot of efforts and investment to bring it on the world map,” he said.

Dinesh Singh, son of village sarpanch Rajpal Singh, said the village panchayat had transferred five acres of land to the state government for setting up the museum.

Though villagers and the gram panchayat have been forthcoming in extending all the cooperation, the bureaucratic apathy is responsible in giving shape to the project. “The site is suffering damage due to the apathy as an international organisation, Global Heritage Fund, too has marked it as one of the 10 most endangered historical sites due to official indifference and plunder,” said an archaeologist.

Sources said excavation director Dr Shinde also revealed his plan to the visiting officials to develop it as a heritage site.

Khemka refused to say anything about his visit to the site. When asked about any progress in his department about setting up a museum in the village, he said it was too early to say anything.