The Purbeswara temple.Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 9: Ancient monuments lying in a dilapidated condition in the city are finding saviours from across the globe.

Under a project initiated last year by the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach), the Taleswar temple is being repaired and renovated with the help of funds from Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) that has adopted the monument.

This time, it is the turn of the 13th century Purbeswara temple that has been adopted by British-Australian multinational firm Rio Tinto. The company would be funding around Rs 15 lakh for conservation of the temple.

“Many corporates have come forward to adopt different monuments in the city, which are protected neither by state archaeology nor Archaeological Survey of India. The officials of Rio Tinto have been to various heritage sites. Last week, they said they would fund the repair and preservation work of the Purbeswara temple,” said SKB Narayan, Bhubaneswar chapter convener, Intach.

At an event organised by Intach recently, managing director of Rio Tinto in India, Nik Senapati, who hails from an Oriya family, said that heritage is the reflection of one’s culture and hence should be protected.

To promote awareness towards heritage among youngsters, Intach will be holding an inter-college quiz contest for engineering colleges in October this year.