New Delhi: In the last five years, the Archaeological Survey of India carried out 121 archaeological projects across India, the Narendra Modi government informed the Parliament on Monday.
Lok Sabha MP TR Baalu asked Union Culture Minister Gajendra Shekhawat about the details of historical findings discovered from archaeological projects carried out between 2021-25.
Shekhawat responded, in a written response, that in 2021-22, permission was given to 24 archaeological projects, 31 in 2022-23, 19 in 2023, 22 in 2024 and 25 in 2025.
ASI has excavated Purana Qila in Delhi, Benwa and Bahaj in Rajasthan, and Rakhigarhi in Haryana.
“During excavation structural remains, burials, pottery and antiquities such as coins, beads, ornaments, agricultural tools, bone objects etc. have been unearthed and as per set practice, samples are sent to various institutions for scientific validations whenever required,” wrote Shekhawat.
The antiquities unearthed from the excavation site were sent to Anthropolgical Survey of India (AnSI) and Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences for testing.
Shekhawat further said there is no court order regarding the continuation or closure of any archaeological projects during the last five years.
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Ongoing excavations
According to Shekhawat there are 16 excavations currently taking place, including Agroha and Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Dwarka and Ancient site Lothal in Gujarat, Brahmagiri and Kamalapura in Karnataka, Balirajgarh in Bihar, Piprahwa in Uttar Pradesh, Fort Jaugada in Odisha, Morabandar area of Elephanta Island in Maharashtra.
Shekhawat also gave the expenditure of these excavations. ThePrint analysed the data and found that around Rs 6.8 crore has been spent on the excavation of these sites so far.
Out of these 16 sites, Rs 2.16 crore were spent on Rakhigarhi excavation, Rs 1.26 crore in Agroha, Rs one crore in Dwarka, Rs 99.17 lakh on Elephanta Island and Rs 93.34 lakh in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar .
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)