Patna, May 14: Bihar Virasat Vikas Samiti, an organisation under the art, culture and youth affairs department, will develop a lab on its premises to work for the conservation of heritage sites.

The Samiti has floated a tender to hire an agency that will take up construction work of the lab, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state. The Samiti aims to start the facility from the upcoming Puratatva building within a year.

Such conservation laboratories are functional in a few states such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka.

"The conservation laboratory, which we will develop in a separate building on our campus, will conserve both antique items and monuments," said Samiti director Bijoy Kumar Choudhary. "The lab will start working on metal sculptures, paintings and monuments after it becomes operational. It would be difficult for us to start conservation work on all of them at once."

Bijoy added that the Samiti had identified 5,000sqft land to start the lab but initially, it will start from a 1,600sqft space.

"Bihar is full of antique items and monuments that are in dire need of conservation," said Bijoy. "We have to depend on conservation labs of other organisations such as National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (Lucknow), Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Delhi) and Archaeological Survey of India. The laboratory will help the state to conserve its property in a better manner."

Choudhary said experts would handle the antique items and the heritage structures with the necessary conservation equipment available at the laboratory.