India's disappearing history: While ASI looks the other way, monuments being razed for 'public interest'

Can one lakh people be made to disappear? Can a historically important monument, protected for over 100 years by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), slowly disappear? Sure, they can.

Especially, if what has been happening to Thiruverumbur Malaikkoil located in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu can be taken as an example. Not only have the authorities violated all rules under Ancient Monuments Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, but one lakh people will be left homeless and jobless if the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has its way. It has happened before, as the CAG report no.18 of ASI in 2013 showed over 92 monuments have disappeared into thin air. So, why can this not be the 93rd monument to meet the same fate?

The Modus Operandi

It doesn’t happen on a single day like the Babri Masjid but is spread over several years. First, in the name of public interest, land around the ASI monument is acquired. Then it is listed as acquired in the Gazette of India to which the ASI doesn’t object or is not informed. Then it is up to the private players. All in violation of the AMASR Act as 100 metre radius of land around the ASI monument comes under prohibited zone where no development activity can take place as per law. While 300 metre under the regulated zone for which permission need to be sought from a competent authority in the ASI – locally and nationally.

Historical Importance

The 115-feet rock on which the temple was erected is 3,800 million-years-old, older than the Himalayas, which is 40-million-years-old. The original temple’s age is unknown as it is referred to in literary works as Devaram, dating back to the 7th century. The current structure which looks like a fort was built by Aditya Chola I in the 9th century. In the 14th century, when General Malik Kafur, leading the hordes of Delhi Sultanate invaded South India, natives attacked from this monument to stop his entry into the Chola kingdom and drove him back. The destruction of this battle can be seen to this day in the destroyed structures that surround it. The history of Southern India would have been extremely different but for this monument. Later wars fought between other invaders proved all who undermined the importance of this rock temple were defeated. [1> It is a living monument as people still pray here.

Backstory

In the summer of 2005, people woke up to find yellow stones behind their homes, schools, hospitals, hotels, companies, mills, supermarkets, shops, temples, mosques, churches, fertile agricultural land including the ASI protected zone. It marks land for acquisition that stretched for 15-km laid in midst of the night by NHAI in the densely populated area of Trichy which includes BHEL and NIT. Surely, no one can build a highway inside Trichy Corporation? But the highway was built in 2009 despite protests by locals because the ASI stayed silent.

The 100-metre prohibited zone had been breached. When K Pradeep, an engineer and local who lives in Thiruverumbur, in an RTI asked NHAI, “At 130.00-km on NH-67 Erumbeeswarar Temple (Malaikkoil), an ASI protected monument, which is more than 1,000-years-old, stands. There’s a ban on construction for a radial distance of 100-metre around it. Is the NHAI aware of this?", NHAI’s reply was a simple “No.”

When a bus stop came up on ASI land, ASI stayed silent. Meanwhile, thousands of families were broken up and displaced. But that isn’t the end of it. With the construction of the highway, accidents happened as there was no underpass or overpass to separate the local traffic from the highway traffic, except in three places on the entire 15-km stretch. This led to accidents and many subsequent deaths.

In 2013, NHAI proposed to construct a continuous service lane for a 15-km stretch on both sides of the highway which is not even in their manual. They reasoned it will stop highway accidents but this plan would lead to more accidents as now the crossover distance will be longer. People protested with hunger strikes, submitting petitions to Trichy collector and the Federation against NH was formed. NHAI issued gazette notification in 2014 and ASI kept quiet. The encroachment continues unabated on ASI land and damage to the ASI monument is unending. Over time, the monument and people settled along th 15-km stretch will disappear.

The Players

Two companies got the NHAI contract to build a highway, starting from the Trichy Corporation all the way to the Thanjavur city limits. The companies were Madhucon, whose founder has cases filed against him  and M/s Louis Berger, an American private defence contractor which has defrauded the US govt of hundreds of millions of dollars and paid a fine of over $69 million [2>

Its India head has pleaded guilty in the Goa Bribery Scam.  Louis Berger was the international consultant who designed the highway without doing ground survey or they would have seen the 115 feet ASI monument or at least the ASI noticeboard that says the monument is protected under AMASR Act. Then there is the CBI case against the former NHAI chief.  It is a BOT contract for 25 years where they can collect toll after which it will be transferred to NHAI. The revenue they collect in one year is around 55 crores.

If you wondered why the CAG audit of ASI found so many monuments gone, remember it is possible. If historical monuments come in the way of “development”, they can disappear over time and authorities will just use the legal term “public interest.” Which public – the ones who died because of the highway, the ones displaced because of the highway, the ones who lost their jobs because their workplaces disappeared, the children who are unable to go to schools that don’t exist anymore or the next wave of people who are waiting to face the same future? Public interest is defined in law as “protecting the welfare of the public as compared to the welfare of a private individual or company.” This legal definition has been reversed in India. Simply put, it is looting.

Will this monument stop the looters like it did the hordes of Malik Kafur? Only time will tell.

[1>  Illustrated guide to the South Indian Railway: Including the Mayavaram-Mutupet, and Peralam-Karaikkal railways. Higginbotham’s. 1900. p. 77.

[2> Deferred Prosecution Agreement between Louis Berger and US Attorney Office, New Jersey. US Court Records, 2010