CHENNAI: Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Secretaries of Municipal Administration and Water Supply and Finance departments, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation and Director-General of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to convene a joint meeting for upkeep and maintenance of Mamallapuram.
A division bench comprising Justices Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar before which suo motu proceedings based on a note prepared by Justice N Kirubakaran to preserve the beauty, safeguard monuments and to protect tourists visiting the town, was taken up as per earlier direction of the bench. Assistant Solicitor-General Karthikeyan filed a memo on the revenue collected by ASI.
The bench was informed that a revenue of `5.98 crores was collected in 2016-17 and `6.65 crore in 2017-18; `8. 14 crores in 2018-19, and up to December 2019 `6.87 crores through entry fee from Indian and foreign visitors. ASI is preserving 411 monuments coming under its jurisdiction in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.The court adjourned the matter to February 25.