By Dominick Rodrigues
Mumbai : Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray made a clarion call to history-lovers to support the Government initiative in ridding obstacles and ensuring safeguarding of the castles and forts – the last bastions of ancient architectural history in the State.
Noting that measures had been initiated for conservation of various fortresses in Maharashtra, he urged fort-lovers, fort conservators and mountaineers to submit their suggestions and proposals to the “Sankalp Kaksh” (Mission room/War room) of the chief minister’s secretariat.
The Chief Minister recently interacted with about 250 fort-lovers and mountaineers across the state through video conferencing. The meeting was conducted by Aadesh Bandekar and Milind Gunaji. Umesh Jhirpe, the chief of All Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh ke (AMGM) and Girish Takle shared their thoughts as the representatives of the for lovers and mountaineers.
Noting that impediments in conservation of forts and castles should be removed in this crusade, the Chief Minister assured full cooperation from the Government, while appealing to experts in this field to come together for preparing a comprehensive plan for the conservation of these structures.
He said these citadels needed to be preserved for future generations viewing without compromising their historical and archaeological heritage, and this called for commitment towards conservation of forts in various phases with other fortresses gradually being included in the mission.
In the Mission’s first stage, the forts of Torana, Shivneri, Sindhudurg, Vijaydurg, Sudhagad forts would be highlighted, he said while urging for formation of a central committee comprising castle-lovers and the researchers, who should prepare a blueprint after deliberating on suggestions received.
Urging for expert in-depth understanding conservation of these forts, Thackeray said that the efforts should include the best in photography, technology like +drones+ and good quality video clips for ensuring publicity of these fortresses far and wide.
Noting that efforts should also be made to study the surrounding areas including foothills around the forts and creation of museums or centres for sharing this information with tourists, Thackeray also highlighted safeguarding the biodiversity, nature, animals and birds in the vicinity of the fortress, while ensuring that tourists and researchers were provided easy access in this regard.
Meanwhile, the fort lovers urged the state government to ”acquire” the forts in the state and also ensure greater coordination between tourism, archaeological and forest departments. While some suggested creation of a fort conservation ministry, others urged for creating an assistance fund for conservation of castles. Additional chief secretary of chief minister’s office Ashish Kumar Singh, and principal secretary of the chief minister Vikas Kharge were also present during the meeting
