Bengaluru: Despite the call for a Swach Barath Mission, the centre has not cleared Karnataka’s proposal to build toilets for tourists at Hampi. For two years Karnataka has followed up its orignal request to the Delhi-headquartered Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to construct toilets for tourists at Hampi, to no avail. Now left with little choice, it has approached the PM, since the subject is close to his heart.

Since Hampi has a Unesco tag, any construction activity in its vicinity requires the ASI’s approval, officials said.”I met Modi and cited the Hampi toilets issue. I told him how important it is to decentralize the ASI’s powers in granting permission for constructing toilets at major tourist destinations,” Karnataka tourism minister RV Deshpande said after a meeting with the PM and Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma. The minister said Modi reciprocated his appeal to devolve powers for quicker decisions without compromising on the protection of world heritage sites.

It’s not just about toilets. The minister said tourism-promotional activities like illumination of monuments and sound-and-light shows too are becoming a formidable task because the state must take permission from the ASI authorities in Delhi each time. “We had planned to operate a buggy at Gol Gumbaz in Vijayapura, but that, too, is awaiting approval from the ASI in New Delhi,” Deshpande said.

The delay, he said, is leading to cost escalation.

But the ASI differs!

Prakash C Nayakanda, deputy superintending archaeologist, ASI, Hampi Mini Circle, said the heritage site has four functional public toilets and it doesn’t need more. Besides, a public toilet near Hampi bus stand sponsored by an MLA is unused for political reasons, he said. If the government wants more toilets at Hampi, it can upgrade the existing ones, he added.