ASI wheels in exhibit to Central railway station

Chennai: The Archaeological Sur­vey of India (ASI), which invariably keeps people away from monuments of historical importance owing to its overwhelming concern for preserving them, has sprung a surprise this year by holding an exhibition of world heritage sites at suburban Central railway station which several lakhs of people use to commute daily.

In spite of their busy schedule, the noise of passing trains and blaring announcements at the station, a large number of people snatched time to go around the exhibits. “On an average, suburban Cent­ral railway station receives 4 lakh footfalls per day and so we decided to put up the exhibition to educate people on the importance of conserving heritage monuments,” a senior ASI official said.

The ASI hit upon the idea as the travelling public would carry home the images of fabled forts and palaces and also natural monument sites displayed at the expo and comprehend their role in preserving the sites. The expo on World Heritage Week celebrations coincided with birth anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The event is being organised in coordination with the superintending archa­eo­lo­gist of ASI, Chennai region, G. Mahe­shwari, deputy superintending archaeologist, Fort museum, ASI, K. Moortheeswari, and Neeti Anil Kumar, assistant archaeologist, ASI.

This is the first time that ASI is organising such an exhibition which will be on till November 25. Also, the ASI has appealed to members of the public to view about 30 Unesco-declared world heritage sites in India besides over 410 monuments coming under its control in TN, as their own properties and “abstain from defacing or scribbling names on the structures. We have made the appeal in English, Hindi and Tamil so that the people would understand the importance of preserving our history,” the official pointed out.