National Monuments Authority (NMA) team to survey Arunachal Pradesh monuments

NEW DELHI: A team of the National Monuments Authority (NMA) will visit ancient monuments, specially bordering the Tibet-China region of Arunachal Pradesh, from June 14 to June18.

The team will also meet local tribal leaders to find out places of indigenous faith which connect Arunachal Pradesh with other parts of the country through legends and verbal history.

The team will meet village elders and leaders of various tribes seeking dharma and cultural connect through ancient monuments with mainland India.

A report on this tour will be submitted to the Prime Minister and the Cultural Affairs Minister, suggesting new additions in the list of Centrally-protected monuments and identifying cultural tourism sites.

NMA Chairman Tarun Vijay will lead the team comprising Hemraj Kamdar and Kailash Rao.

"The credit goes to Prime Minister Modi who initiated an annual yatra from Arunachal to Porbandar in Gujarat, strengthening the cultural threads woven around the legacy of Rukmani in a most thrilling and enlightening manner," said Vijay.

He added that Arunachal Pradesh has lagged behind in the area of heritage protection and enlisting of new monuments in centrally protected list of national archaeological sites.

The stream of the local indigenous faiths and their monuments, tangible and intangible heritage connecting them to the western coast in Gujarat and other parts of India, has remained relatively unnoticed and unrecognized.

"The Parushuram Kund, Bhishmak Nagar, Bhalukpong and Tawang are a few indigenous sites of archaeological importance which connect Arunachal Pradesh with Gujarat, Goa, Kerala and the Yadava community," he said. (IANS)

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