A private company Dalmia Bharat group has adopted the Red Fort in New Delhi and Gandikota Fort in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ project of the central government. The private company will be responsible for maintaining of heritage sites for five years.

Hitting out at government over the move, Congress leader Pawan Khera said,”Who gave the authority to the government to give the monument on the lease. They are just caretakers. How can they hand it over to someone else just like that?”

The Ministry of Tourism has signed a MoU with Dalmia Bharat and the Archaeological Survey of India, it said in a statement. The Dalmia Bharat group bagged the contract for Rs 25 crore after beating IndiGo Airlines and the GMR group, according to media reports.

A news agency PTI quoted, the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme was launched by President Ram Nath Kovind on World Tourism Day in September last year. With a budget of more than Rs 5 crore per year, the company will look after the operations and maintenance of the site for five years, the statement further read.

Under the project, Dalmia Bharat group will construct, landscape, illuminate and maintain activities related to provision and development of tourist amenities. This includes basic and advanced amenities such as public conveniences, clean drinking water, cleanliness of the monument, accessibility for all, signage, cloakroom facilities, illumination and night viewing, surveillance system, tourist facilitation-cum-interpretation center. There will be ramps and toilet facilities for the differently-abled.

Union Minister for Tourism KJ Alphons asked the stakeholders to “protect, preserve and market” the heritage of India. He emphasized on creating awareness among corporates and citizens to adopt the heritage sites under the scheme for maintenance of amenities at tourist destinations.

As per reports, the heritage monuments taken up for ‘adoption’ by private groups include Delhi’s Qutub Minar, Jantar Mantar, Purana Qila, Safdarjung’s Tomb and Agrasen ki Baoli, Odisha’s Sun Temple, Ratnagiri monuments and the Rajarani temple, the ruins of Hampi in Karnataka, the Leh Palace and Stok Kangri in Jammu & Kashmir, Ajanta and Ellora caves in Maharashtra, Mattancherry Place in Kochi, Gangotri Temple and the Gomukh trail in Uttarakhand. The government had last year given the letter of intent to seven private companies to adopt the sites.