Rajkot: In April last year, the state archaeology department woke up to the theft of antique grills and silver doors of Junagadh’s Mahabat Khan Makbara, the 120-year-old mausoleum, only when TOI reported about it. Similarly, the department was in complete dark when a huge slab in the 1,800-year-old Buddhist cave in Khambhalida near Gondal collapsed.But the department’s ignorance is not surprising. Saurashtra has 210 protected monuments of the total 362 listed as ‘protected sites’ in Gujarat. And, the only caretaker of such large number of sites is just one junior clerk, who sits in a rickety building in Rajkot. For the past nearly one decade, at least 10 positions including crucial ones like assistant director, have been vacant. The responsibility of conservation and maintenance of archaeological sites in 11 districts of Saurashtra has been given to few officers in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The vacant positions include those of technical and repairing staff who play the key role in safeguarding these ancient structures.Sources said the post of full-time assistant director is vacant for over three years and the charge is handled by an archaeological chemist V T Faldu. He also handles the additional charge of archaeology superintendent, the second highest post.A senior officer told TOI, “Without adequate staff, maintenance and security of such large number of protected monuments is impossible. We rush only after media reports of damage to the structures.”Saurashtra division consists of Rajkot, Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar and Botad districts.When contacted, director of archaeology and museum department, Pankaj Sharma, said, “We have advertised to fill up the vacant posts through GPSC and I hope this would be done this year.” About the maintenance of the monuments, Sharma said, “Due to manpower crunch, we are deciding on the priority. To give all monuments proper attention, we have made in-charges of all vacant positions.”According to sources, staff in the department is divided into three categories — technical, second and administrative category. In Saurashtra division, the posts of assistant director, superintendent, technical assistant, exploration assistant and photographer-cum-draftman is vacant and various persons in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar hold temporary charges along with their regular charge.In Rajkot office, the position of monument repairer, archaeological engineer, assistant engineer and conservation assistant is vacant and their functions are taken care of by in-charge officers. There is only one conservation assistant in the entire state who holds the charge of four divisions of Gujarat.

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