<\/a>Amid criticism of distorting a portion of the historic Lalbagh Fort by the department of archaeology, the government has taken an initiative to demarcate archaeological sites in the country in a bid to protect those from encroachment. The government will also control development work in the buffer zones of these sites, cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor told New Age over telephone from Comilla. The minister said a working group formed to demarcate the sites and their buffer zones visited Shalban Bihar in Comilla on Wednesday, adding that the demarcation would help protect these sites from the encroachers and also help them to be inscribed on the UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List.
\n\u2018We found many attempts of encroachment in the area. And unmonitored development works in the nearby areas have also tarnished the aesthetic value of the site,\u2019 Asaduzzaman said.
\n\u2018We will have to thwart all such attempts causing destruction in the core areas of the archaeological sites and prevent unauthorised construction. It\u2019s going to be a difficult work, but it is imperative that we continue.
\n\u2018The private developers will require permission before any construction work on the buffer zones of the historic sites. We will fix the size and colour of such works so that those structures do not distort the beauty of the sites,\u2019 he added.
\nAccording to an official count, there are a total of 448 archaeological sites in the country of which two sites \u2013 including Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon district and the mosque city of Bagerhat district \u2013 have already been inscribed on the list of UNESCO heritage sites.
\nThe mangrove forest Sunderban has also been inscribed on the list.
\nThe department of archaeology\u2019s director general Altaf Hossain said that the demarcation of the core zones and buffer zones of the sites will \u2018protect them from both government and private occupations.\u2019
\n\u2018The construction work of the car parking lot at Lalbagh fort has been postponed,\u2019 he said, adding that the working group will control such activities in future.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/strong> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid criticism of distorting a portion of the historic Lalbagh Fort by the department of archaeology, the government has taken an initiative to demarcate archaeological sites in the country in a bid to protect those from encroachment. The government will also control development work in the buffer zones of these sites, cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5093,209,199,12438,12439],"yoast_head":"\n