Aditya Raj Das /
NEW DELHI: The government does not intend to constitute a National Commission for Cultural and Heritage Sites, the Lok Sabha was told today.
The Government had introduced a Bill named “The National Commission For Heritage Sites Bill, 2009” in the Rajya Sabha on 26.02.2009, which was referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, the Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) Mahesh Sharma told the lower house in a written reply.
The proposed legislation was pending since then for making necessary amendments in the Bill in pursuance to the recommendations, made in the 150th Report of Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, on the Bill, he said.
Accordingly, consultations were held with various stakeholders including the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), National Monuments Authority (NMA) as well as Ministries of Urban Development, Environment, Forest and Climate Change (the then Environment and Forests) etc.
Based on the consultations, the Government decided not to constitute a National Heritage Sites Commission as envisaged in the said Bill. The Bill was accordingly withdrawn by the government from the Rajya Sabha on 31.07.2015, Sharma said.