Why can t Centre take care of Red Fort: Mamata

Kolkata April 28 (IANS) Amid a controversy over an MoU with Dalmia Bharat Limited vis-a-vis the Red Fort West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday questioned why the Centre could not even take care of the historic monument.

"Why can t the government even take care of our historic Lal Qila? The fort is a symbol of our nation. It is where India s tricolour flag is hoisted on the Independence Day. Why should it be leased out? Sad and dark day in our history " Banerjee said in a tweet.

The Tourism Ministry had clarified on Saturday that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) envisaged limited access to non-core areas and no handing over of the monument is involved. "It is clarified that The Adopt a Heritage is essentially a non-revenue generating project."

The Ministry said that under the Monument Mitras project it has approved 31 agencies so far to adopt a total of 95 monuments and tourism sites across India.

"So far four MoUs have been signed between different stakeholders -- for Mt. Stok Kangri in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir the trail to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand the Red Fort in Delhi and the Gandikota Fort in Andhra Pradesh " it said.

--IANS
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