Bhubaneswar, May 3: When in doubt, pass the buck. Never mind if passing vehicles damage a monument from the 2nd century BC.

A plan to stop heavy vehicles from plying on the road passing through the Khandagiri and Udayagiri caves, to stop damage to the 2nd century BC monument, has been put in cold storage.

Confusion prevails over who will serve the public notice closing the road to heavy vehicles. Vibrations generated by the vehicles are damaging the caves located on the twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri.

While the state government agencies think that it is the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that has to take the initiative, the ASI officials said it was the state government’s job.

ASI superintending archaeologist (Bhubaneswar circle) A.K. Patel said: “We are ready to take up an integrated beautification project of both hills so that Khandagiri-Udayagiri caves become a major tourist attraction. The ASI will invest to make the famous Jain monument one of the sought-after tourist destinations in the city.”

He, however, said that closing the road between the two hills to heavy vehicles was the responsibility of the state government.

Last year, the city management group, the apex body that takes decisions regarding the city’s development, had urged the general administration and tourism departments to take up the project as soon as possible.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) also initiated a process to relocate traders doing business near the historic twin hills. It had identified 27 shops to be relocated to a place behind the Udayagiri hills.

Environmentalist S.N. Das said: “Both archaeologists and environmentalists have conducted studies and found that the vibration created due to plying of heavy vehicles on the road will damage the historic caves. This Jain monument is the city’s pride. We have to think seriously about its preservation.”

The heavy vehicles can instead take an alternative route, a semi-circular road via Satyasai Enclave passing through the tourism interpretation centre at the foothills of Udayagiri.

P.C. Nayak, executive engineer, division III of the Public Works Department, said it was not a difficult task to close the road.

“But the ASI and the tourism and culture department should take the responsibility to serve the notices. The closure will not hamper vehicular movement as alternate roads are already in use.”

A senior official of the tourism department, however, said the government officials were not sure under which rule they should issue the notification.

He said the tourism and culture department, the general administration department, works department, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and BMC were discussing the issue.

“Once a conclusion is reached, we are going to issue the notice for road closure and make the area free of encroachment. Shops and unplanned growth of private buildings have deformed the view of the twin hills,” he said.