With reference to the recently published news article on report publication of Keeladi Excavations, Distt Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu, by a section of the media, the following may be treated as a response and disclaimer on part of the Archaeological Survey of India and may please be published immediately in the concerned media publications.

The Archaeological Survey of India regularly publishes the reports of sites excavated under the aegis of Director General, ASI. Great emphasis is given to this aspect, since much time, energy and money is spent on every excavation work and the basic purpose of the excavation work otherwise, remains unfulfilled.

In a set process, after the submission of the reports by the excavators, those are then sent to various subject experts, who are requested to vet the reports for publication. Various alterations, as suggested by the subject experts, are carried out by the excavators and resubmitted finally for publication. These are then published as Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India (MASI).

The same procedure was adopted in case of the Keeladi report, wherein the report was sent for the vetting to experts. Accordingly, the excavator of the Keeladi has been communicated the suggestions of the experts for making necessary correction in the draft report submitted by him, but he did not carry out the correction till date.

The story being circulated in a part of the media is misleading, untrue and is being absolutely and vehemently denied. The Director General and the ASI officials understand the importance of an excavated site, but all reports need proper vetting, editing, proof reading and designing before it is sent for publication. That the ASI is uninterested in publication of Keeladi report is a figment of imagination which aims purposefully to paint the department in bad colours.

The letter from the Director (Excavations & Explorations) is a routine matter which the Director (EE) regularly writes to the excavators for carrying out changes in the report or otherwise.

The Archaeological Survey of India, again, requests the media to understand the nuances of a subject and investigate every aspect of a technical subject like archaeology and develop holistic understanding before publishing. It also expects that the learned media would walk a few extra miles even to understand the due processes associated with such technical matters.

For any query in this regard kindly contact to Ms. Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu, Joint Director General, ASI (9324608991).

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Sunil Kumar Tiwari

pibculture[at]gmail[dot]com