Modi govt’s ‘Adopt a Heritage’ tourism scheme has covered 25 heritage sites till now, Tourism Minister takes review meet

In a significant development related to the “Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan” project, the Union Minister of Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel headed the review meeting on Monday to take stock of the scheme’s progress and its future plans. Patel who had called the meeting of the top brass of the ministry was given a detailed presentation on the progress made by the scheme at various historical monuments which have been incorporated as part of the project including Delhi’s Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Safdarjung Tomb, Jantar Mantar among many others. The minister emphasised that the projects initiated at the heritage monuments as part of the project be completed at the earliest.

The “Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan” project was launched by the Modi government in its first term under which public as well as private companies are invited to become the “monument mitras” of the heritage sites in the country and provide basic amenities such as cleanliness, drinking water, sound and lightning among others at the sites. The operational and maintenance responsibilities of the heritage monuments were also rested with the companies associated with the heritage sites.

According to the release issued by the Ministry of Tourism, the government has clinched a total of 27 Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with a total of 12 public/private entities for a total of 25 major heritage sites in the country. The government also informed that a total of 2 MoUs have also been signed to facilitate technological interventions at a couple of heritage sites under the project.

The major monuments which have been handed over to the “Monument Mitras” include the historic Red Fort which has been allotted to the Dalmia Bharat Ltd, Qutub Minar (allotted to Yatra.Com), Safdarjung Tomb(allotted to Travel Corporation of India), and Jantar Mantar(allotted to SBI Foundation) among others. The Ministry of Tourism at the beginning of this year had intended to revive the about four year old project but the sudden occurence of the pandemic posed a hurdle in making progress in the project. With several Coronavirus vaccine candidates in the fray to get the emergency use approval along with consistent dip in the tally of Coronavirus cases, the government appears to have picked the threads of the project again.