Nine monuments in JK declared as state protected

Jammu, Mar 19: Keen to preserve the cultural heritage of the state, the Jammu and Kashmir government has declared nine monuments of historical significance as state protected monuments (SPMs).

"Nine monuments of historical significance have been declared as state protected monuments and some more monuments are under consideration", Minister for Culture Nawang Rigzin Jora said while replying to demand for grants of the departments in Legislative Assembly here.

However, he did not not give the name of the monuments included in the list. The Minister said the state has a distinction of having one of the oldest archival repositories in the country with its record holdings dating to 1742 AD.

He said the famous Mubarak Mandi Palace at Jammu is being conserved as an important heritage complex for which an amount of Rs 50 crore is being incurred in the first phase.

Jora said that a project is also being formulated for digitisation of books in the libraries department and a Rs 17.34 crore project for construction of a library has been taken up for execution.

PTI