New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Land area measuring 20 hectares fall in Site-A of the Taj Heritage Corridor and has been given to the Archaeological Survey of India for the development of a garden, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy shared the data in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha.

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On a query on the present status of greenery in Site-A of the Taj Heritage Corridor opposite the Agra Fort in Agra, he said, "The land area measuring 20 hectare falls in Site-A of the Taj Heritage Corridor is given to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for development of garden".

In Phase I, 10 hectares have been identified, of which approximately 60 per cent area has already been developed into a garden in a planned manner and the same is being maintained in good condition, Reddy said in his response.

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"Regular manpower is deployed for routine maintenance of the garden and it has been fenced to protect the garden," he said and shared the expenditure incurred for the routine maintenance and upkeep of the garden during the last five years.

In 2017-18, Rs 0.25 crore (for fencing) was spent, Rs 0.79 crore in 2019-20 and Rs 0.28 crore in 2021-22.

The Taj Heritage Corridor is not in the list of identified locations for organising cultural events, Reddy said, and shared a list of guidelines relating to the usage of specific areas of protected monuments or sites for cultural events.

On another query on whether the government proposed to bring in legislation to provide more teeth to the ASI to protect ancient monuments from encroachment, Reddy said, "The government has taken a decision to examine the legal issues related to construction-related activities around centrally protected monuments and sites."

"The amendment of the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act) is under the consideration of the government. The AMASR Act is administered by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI)/Ministry of Culture," he said.

On a separate query on if the government had prepared a blueprint for reviving the ASI's Underwater Archaeology Wing of the ASI, the minister said, "The ASI has an Underwater Archaeology Wing since 2001. Recently, an assistant archaeologist has been posted in ASI headquarters specifically to handle matter related to underwater archaeology."

Responding to another query, he said, 35 temples (including 11 in Maharashtra and four in Uttar Pradesh) were included in the 'Temple 360' digital platform.

Initially, the website aims to bring 24x7 experience of immersive spiritual journeys and temple darshans through live camera feeds with further expansion to provide services of e-prasad, e-aarti, e-sringaar and e-donation, among others, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)