The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was in the process of reviving its underwater archaeology wing that had become defunct over the years, according to Culture Ministry officials recently.
A senior official told The Hindu that the underwater wing was being revived, while the details of excavations and projects to be taken up were yet to be decided. Another official said the ASI had appointed Alok Tripathi, an expert in underwater archaeology, as its Additional Director General in 2021. Mr. Tripathi, the former head of the history department of Assam University, Silchar has written on the topics of marine archaeology and remote sensing, among others.
The Ministry had also informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture that the underwater wing would be revived, as per the committee’s February 2 report.
“One important issue that was raised during the deliberations of the Committee was the need for underwater archaeological exploration being given the much needed priority. The need for reviving underwater archaeological sites in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Odisha was highlighted during the meeting of the Committee. The Committee is disappointed to note that the Underwater Wing of ASI is defunct since a decade,” the report stated.
In response to the committee’s observations, the Culture Ministry said: “ASI is reviving its underwater wing. An Additional Director General level officer posted recently is an underwater archaeology expert”, as per the report.
In a 2020 paper titled ‘Underwater Archaeological Research and Heritage Management in India: Inter-departmental Collaboration and Utilization of State Infrastructure’, Mr. Tripathi wrote that the underwater archaeology wing of the ASI was aware of the vast task at hand since its inception in 2001, with 2.2 million square kilometres maritime area and 7,500 km-long coastline, and limited resources.
