Committee constituted after 6 months to remove encroachments from forts and hill forts !

Kolhapur – The State Government had issued an order regarding all forts and hill forts in Maharashtra. A Government circular issued in January directed that a committee be constituted in every district under the chairmanship of the District Collector to remove encroachments from all forts and hill forts. Acting on this, the Kolhapur District Administration has constituted the committee only after six months. The 14-member committee, headed by the District Collector, comprises 10 Government officials and 4 non-Government members. The Resident Deputy Collector has been appointed as its Secretary.

The four non-Government members are Mr Pramod Patil and Mr Ram Yadav of the Kolhapur Hill Riders Foundation, Mr Santosh Hasurkar of Durgveer Pratishthan, Gadhinglaj, and Modi script scholar Mr Amit Adsul of Kolhapur.

In fact, the circular had directed that the committee should remove the encroachments in a time-bound manner by 31 May and submit periodic reports of the work to the Government. However, the committee itself has been constituted only in July. It will now hold meetings, discuss the encroachments and only thereafter initiate actual action.

Commenting on this, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti’s Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh State Coordinator Mr Sunil Ghanwat said, “Out of the 14 members, 10 are Government officials. In fact, there should have been more members from organisations that are actively working for the conservation of forts and hill forts. It would have been more appropriate to appoint non-Government members who have been dedicating themselves for many years to the preservation of these forts. The committee should now immediately hold meetings, remove the encroachments from the forts and provide relief to Shiv devotees.”

Dainik Sanatan Prabhat highlighted the issue!

Dainik Sanatan Prabhat brought this encroachment issue to public notice by publishing reports on it from time to time. During a press conference held by the Guardian Minister, the newspaper’s representative pointed out that such a committee had still not been constituted.

Forts recorded in Kolhapur District

Under the Archaeological Survey of India	State-protected forts	Forts for which preliminary notification for State protection has been issued	Unprotected fort monuments
Panhala Fort	Vishalgad	Pargad	Mudagad
	Bhudargad	Kalanandigad	Gandharvgad
	Rangna	Gagangad	Mahipalgad
		Samangad,Pavangad

State-protected monuments in the district

Name of Monument	Location
1.Ramchandrapant Amatya Samadhi	Panhala
2. Bajiprabhu and Phulaji Deshpande Samadhi	Vishalgad
3. Lakshmi Vilas Palace	Kasba Bavada
4. Kasba Bavada	Are, Taluka Karveer
5. Pandavdara Caves	Borivade, Panhala
6. Bhudargad	Bhudargad
7. Rangna	Chikk