ONGC to fund projects on protection of national heritage

AGARTALA - State-owned exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will provide funds for conservation, renovation and restoration of the monuments of Ahom kings in Sibsagar in eastern Assam, an official said here Saturday.

”ONGC would fund and collaborate with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the conservation works,” an ONGC official said.

Sibsagar, 365 km east of Guwahati, is the erstwhile capital of the Ahom kings who ruled Assam for 600 years until the British annexed the region in 1826. The town is built around the large 129-acre artificial tank called the Sibsagar Lake (which had given the town its name), dug over 200 years ago.

One can still find the archaeological remains, palaces and temples of the Ahoms, now being preserved as national protected monuments.

The official said : ”ONGC has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with National Cultural Fund (NCF), a trust under the union culture ministry, to take up various projects for conservation and restoration of art, culture and heritage — both tangible and non-tangible — in different parts of India.”

NCF Member Secretary Amresh and ONGC Director (HR) A.K. Balyan, signed the MoC in New Delhi Friday.

”ONGC and NCF have agreed to jointly collaborate and undertake the projects for propagation of national heritage and culture as a part of the main oil and gas company’s efforts towards corporate social responsibility,” the official added.

– Indo-Asian News Service