By
Soudabeh Sadigh
Tehran, 5 February 2007 (CHN)
-- For the second time in the past few weeks, the Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Department of Kermanshah province has filed a legal complaint against the
provincial Telecommunication Organization for its activities in the vicinity of
Bisotun which have intruded the cultural landscape of this world heritage
site.
Despite previous objections raised by the
provincial Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department regarding this project, the
Telecommunication Organization is now claiming that it obtained permission from
the Governor Office of the province to continue its activities in the vicinity
of Bisotun world heritage site.
Two weeks ago, the diggings to lay cables
in Bisotun plain resulted in destruction of some historical monuments dating
back to the Sassanid (224-651 AD) and Ilkhanid (1256-1336 AD) dynastic periods
near the historic Khosrow Bridge.
The Telecommunication Organization rejects
to take responsibility for the damages caused and puts the blame on the
inhabitants of the nearby Chambatan Sofla village and its council. On the other
hand, in an interview with CHN, Hosseini, member of Chabatan village council,
said that the villagers started the diggings in Bisotun plain by the order of
the Telecommunication Organization and they did not install cable poles in the
region.
According to Asadollah Biranvand, director
of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Kermanshah province, the case
will be taken to the court for further investigations to find out who was in
charge of diggings in Bisotun plain. “We have presented the court with a full
list of the names of those who had a role in this project,” said Biranvand to
CHN.
Biranvand further told CHN that since the
Cultural Heritage Department of Kermanshah is the only legal body that can issue
permission for diggings and other construction activities in the province’s
historic sites, the provincial governor office has no right in giving such
permissions.
Bisotun Plain is spread at the foothill of
Bisotun Mountain where several ancient remains including prehistoric caves, a
temple from the Median Empire (728 BC-550 BC), the relief and inscription of the
Achaemenid King Darius the Great (549-486 BC), statue of Hercules, etc. are
found. The historic site of Bisotun was registered in the list of UNESCO World
Heritage Sites last year.
... Payvand News - 2/6/07 ... --
