Rajkot: A huge portion of the 1 ,800-year-old Buddha caves has collapsed due to lack of maintenance and the recent torrential rain in Khambhalida village, 7km off the national highway near Gondal. There were 15 caves dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries AD that were scooped out of local limestone rock and discovered way back in 1958. At present, only four caves exist at the site which is a protected monument. Paresh Pandya, whose father P P Pandya had discovered the caves, said they have been demanding a concrete plan to protect and maintain these caves since 2003.“We are demanding a transparent dome to protect these caves from the effect of weather. The cave on left is the main cave and is already on the verge of collapse and there is an urgent to construct pillars around it for protection. As rain water leaks into the caves, they are becoming more fragile due to humidity as it happened with the huge slab of the main cave 10 days ago.”The neglect is evident as there is no watchman deputed at the site by archaeology department. Vikramsinh Jadeja, a local villager, has taken upon himself to look after the caves. “The archaeology department has not deputed anybody. I am doing it voluntarily because this is the heritage treasure of our village. Majority of people coming to the grand Khodaldham temple built by Leuva Patels at Kagvad, often visit these caves,” said Jadeja. Y M Chitvala, former assistant director, Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, who used to maintain these caves till his retirement in 2003, said, “The archaeology department neither has staff to maintain this monument nor experts. These centuries-old caves are crumbling due to neglect. The collapsed slab must be restored immediately.”Pankaj Sharma, director of archaeology and museum, government of Gujarat, said, “This is a hilly area and a boulder might have collapsed on caves but because of that you can’t say they are damaged. We carried out a survey of the site and soon restoration work will begin. Rajkot circle office is looking after the maintenance of that monument.”

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