West Bengal’s tourism department has announced a proposed partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to bring 135 centrally protected monuments and historic sites into tourism circuits across the state, with new visitor infrastructure planned without altering their heritage character.
The decision was announced on Wednesday in the presence of tourism minister Shankar Ghosh, minister of state Purnima Chakraborty, tourism secretary Barun Kumar Ray, ASI director general Yaduvir Singh and additional director general Anil Tiwari, according to Anandabazar – West Bengal.
The proposed partnership will cover historic sites in districts including Bishnupur, Murshidabad, Malda, Cooch Behar, Hooghly, Kolkata, Nadia, East Midnapore and West Midnapore. The state has 135 centrally protected monuments and historical sites, which the tourism department plans to connect through organised tourism circuits.
The proposed visitor facilities include landscaping, toilets, drinking water points, pathways, seating areas, parking, closed-circuit television surveillance, audio guides and shops selling souvenirs. Digital services, information boards and improved interpretation systems are also planned to explain the historical importance of the sites to visitors.
The department has said that the architectural character of the monuments must not be affected by the proposed improvements. The ASI will monitor the development process to ensure that the work complies with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and that the defining features of the heritage sites remain intact.
Under the proposed administrative arrangement, the state government will prepare development proposals, while a joint management committee comprising representatives of the state and the ASI will oversee planning, development, maintenance and operations at selected sites. The report did not specify the sites that will be taken up first or provide a construction timetable.
The proposed funding structure could include central financial assistance, state government funds, corporate social responsibility contributions and public-private partnerships. A revenue-sharing mechanism for approved tourism and visitor-related activities has also been proposed, with the state’s share set at 70% under the revised framework.
The plan also allows heritage festivals and cultural programmes to be held outside the core protected areas of suitable ASI-approved sites. Such activities would be subject to approval and are intended to complement, rather than interfere with, the protected monuments.
Accessibility measures are part of the proposal. These include ramps, tactile pathways and Braille-based facilities to make selected tourism destinations easier to use for visitors with disabilities. The tourism department expects the initiative to support heritage conservation, tourism, local economic activity and cultural programmes across multiple districts.
The next steps are for the state government and the ASI to develop the proposed partnership framework, prepare site-specific development proposals and establish the joint management committee. Implementation will depend on approvals under the heritage protection law and the identification of funding for individual sites.
