The Congress raised questions and took a barb at the BJP-led government at the Centre over the recent controversy involving the Red Fort.
On Saturday, the main opposition party posted a tweet sarcastically asking the people which would be the next building of national importance the saffron party lease out after “handing over” the Red Fort to the Dalmia group.
“After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity?” read the tweet which had four options for the people to vote for – Parliament, Lok Kalyan Marg, Supreme Court, and All of the above.
After handing over the Red Fort to the Dalmia group, which is the next distinguished location that the BJP government will lease out to a private entity? #IndiaSpeaks
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 28, 2018
Congress’ charge came as the Dalmia Bharat group reportedly bagged a contract worth Rs 25 crore from the government for maintenance and revamp of the 17th century monument built by fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for five years.
It was part of ‘Adopt a Heritage’ (Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan) scheme launched by the President of India on 27 September 2017.
As a controversy erupted around the “handing over” of the monument, Incredible India posted two tweets from the official Twitter handle.
It was clarified that the MoU signed between the group and the government concerns only the development, operations and maintenance of tourism amenities and “no handing over of monument is involved”.
“The ‘Red Fort’ story in a section of media today is misleading as the MoU concerns ‘only’ the development, operations and maintenance of tourism amenities in and around Red Fort. It envisages limited ‘access’ of non-core areas & no handing over of monument is involved,” read the first tweet.
“The ‘Adopt a Heritage’ is essentially a non-revenue generating project. It is part of responsible tourism initiative where the Monument Mitra spends his CSR funds for upkeep, maintenance etc and gets limited visibility for the facilities created,” Incredible India posted a second tweet.
The ‘Red Fort’ story in a section of media today is misleading as the MoU concerns ‘only’ the development, operations and maintenance of tourism amenities in and around Red Fort. It envisages limited ‘access’ of non core areas & no handing over of monument is involved. (1/2)
— Incredible!ndia (@incredibleindia) April 28, 2018
The ‘Adopt a Heritage’ is essentially a non-revenue generating project. It is part of responsible tourism initiative where the Monument Mitra spends his CSR funds for upkeep, maintenance etc and gets limited visibility for the facilities created. (2/2)
— Incredible!ndia (@incredibleindia) April 28, 2018
The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) KJ Alphons and other senior officials of Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).