Govt all set to archive culture, heritage sites

KATHMANDU: The detailed information about heritage sites and trusts administering cultural, religious and heritage sites of the country will be made available for all after about a month. About two dozens cultural and heritage sites are officially recognised in the country but the government does not have the clue about their status owing to lack of record and update.

Of late, the Ministry of Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture has started collecting the details about such sites, said Rishi Kesh Niroula, under secretary at the ministry. The report about the sites will be readied in a month, he added.

According to the Ministry, Pashupatinath, Lumbini, Janakpur, Nepal Academy, Cultural Corporation, Bouddhanath, Tara Gaon, Devghat, Bhanu Jayanti, Budhanilkantha, Halesi Mahadevsthan, Manakamana, Patan Museum, Pathibhara and Baraha sites are administered by respective development trusts and committees.

"We have little information about those sites collected decades ago," Niroula added.

Meanwhile, an official at the Pashupati Area Development Trust, said even the trust lack complete information about Pashupatinath. "We failed to keep records. While we need the information, we are obliged to contact the UNESCO for the details," he lamented.

Niroula claimed that there was no record of the tradition and history of priest appointment at the Pashupatinath. "Now we are collecting historical background, their properties, master plan of sites, development, their resources and income, number of officials in trusts and their status, and achievement of trusts," he added.

The ministry official also said that the details of other historical and cultural sites will also be collected gradually. "We will begin it after the completion of the first project," he concluded.