Telangana’s Warangal to map protected monument lands to prevent encroachments

The Warangal district administration has launched an exercise to demarcate lands under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Telangana Department of Heritage (formerly Department of Archaeology & Museums) in a bid to strengthen protection of archaeological monuments and prevent encroachments.

District Collector Satya Sharada has directed officials to identify and demarcate the boundaries of all protected sites and prepare comprehensive maps to facilitate their effective safeguarding.

Chairing a meeting with officials of the ASI, the Department of Heritage, the Revenue Department, and the Survey and Land Records Department on Wednesday (July 29, 2026), she said the exercise would help establish the exact extent of protected lands and prevent unauthorised occupation.

The Collector instructed officials to complete the demarcation process at the earliest and take all necessary steps to safeguard the district’s archaeological heritage.

The initiative reportedly follows a recent communication from Telangana Department of Heritage’s Director K. Arjun Rao to all district Collectors, urging them to expedite the transfer of lands attached to protected monuments from the Revenue and other departments to the Department of Heritage wherever such alienation has not been completed.

According to officials, although several temples and heritage structures were declared protected monuments decades ago by the ASI and the State archaeology department, the lands attached to many of them were never formally transferred to the heritage department. Officials said these administrative lapses have left several sites vulnerable to encroachments and disputes over ownership.

Protected monuments lands encroached

Sources said lands attached to the protected monuments in the erstwhile Warangal district was allegedly encroached upon. In some cases, individuals are also reported to have obtained pattas for lands belonging to protected monuments, raising concerns among heritage officials and conservationists. The exercise is expected to be taken up in all districts to establish clear ownership records and strengthen legal protection for archaeological sites.

32 protected monuments in erstwhile Warangal

Warangal, the former capital of the Kakatiya dynasty, possesses one of Telangana’s richest concentrations of medieval monuments. The erstwhile Warangal district has 32 monuments protected by the Telangana Department of Heritage. It is also home to three major ASI-protected monuments, Warangal Fort in Warangal, the Thousand Pillar Temple at Hanumakonda and the Ramappa Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.