Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday wrote to his Cabinet colleague G Kishan Reddy seeking his personal intervention in directing officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to take over the excavation and preservation of the recently discovered 2,000-year-old Mauryan site at Barpali in Odisha’s Bargarh district.
In a letter to Union Culture and Tourism Minister, Pradhan said, “I learnt that around 60 students, research scholars and faculty of the History department of Gangadhar Meher University started the excavation on 31 May 2022.”
“The site, which is spread over 17 hectares, has yielded over numerous priceless artefacts and antiquities dated back to the post-Mauryan period, which is about 2000-year ago,” he added.
The findings indicate that the site was the well-established early trade centre and further digging could perhaps reveal even more startling revelations, the Union Minister noted.
“Such a grand archeological finding is both rare and extremely vulnerable. Considering the immense historical value and undiscovered potential of this new found archeological site, I seek your personal intervention in directing officials of ASI to take over the Barpali excavation site for better exploration, examination, analysis, and security of the priceless antiquities and historical wealth,” read the letter from Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan.
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