Vizagites pool funds to build gate at heritage site

Visakhapatnam: As part of efforts to conserve the city’s heritage, Vizagites raised funds, constructed a protective gate and placed informative signs at the foothills of Pavuralakonda Buddhist hilltop monument near Bheemili to prevent trespassers and bikers from performing stunts and littering the heritage site.
Residents managed to get a permission letter from the state archaeology department and pooled funds among themselves to set up the iron gate.The gate was inaugurated on Saturday evening by schoolchildren.
Besides heritage enthusiasts Jayshree and Sohan Hatangadi, who took the initiative of placing the gate and raising funds for it, 18 heritage lovers made financial contributions for the structure, which required around Rs 1.3 lakh.
On Saturday, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, children from nearby Urban Residential School Y Vasu and Harshavardhan, handed over the keys of the gate to the assistant director of state archaeology department Venkat Rao. The gate-opening ceremony was preceded by a clean-up drive from the foothill upto the 10-acre heritage site on Pavuralakonda hill by around 50 students and 30 volunteers.
“It is heartening to see that children and everyone present taking a vow to protect the heritage site for the next generation. With the signs and gate in place, people have come to know about the significance of the place and vehicular traffic would not be allowed to go up the 1.5 km hill road to the site,” added Jayshree Hatangadi.
Earlier, rampant trespassing and littering had damaged the site, which also houses a Dutch ruin. In January, videos and photos of racing and stunt biking by youngsters at the 2,000-year-old heritage site shared on social media had enraged and upset citizens, who took the consent of the archaeology department to set up the gate.