kochi conservation activists in the state have raised concerns over the central governments move to give the mattancherry palace a 500yearold heritage structure to the travel corporation india tci under the union governments adopt a monument scheme it is the first monument in the state to be identified for adoption under the scheme in which more than 90 monuments across the country have already been included under the scheme private companies would become monument mitras and will provide amenities like public conveniences and other tourist services as their corporate social responsibilitybesides providing amenities like seating facilities and toilets at the mattancherry palace tci will also look after beautification of the site for the next five years while the archaeological survey of india asi will maintain control over the conservation of the monumentarchaeologists have pointed out that the scheme should be implemented cautiously without letting the private players to take over the structure in the long run if the agency follows the footsteps of the agha khan trust for culture which took part in the restoration of humayuns tomb it is a good initiative the agha khan trust does not profit directly by charging the visitors and they put up their name only in the brochure but the government has been implementing the project in a hushhush manner the agencies which adopt the monuments do not have expertise on maintaining heritage structures k k muhammed former asi regional director saidearlier the work at asi regional offices used to be decentralized it has become more centralized leading to standstill of asis activities he addedhowever the tci is likely to face some challenges after adopting the mattancherry palace only the first floor of the palace is under the asi the underground chambers of the palace and the land are under the control of the cochin devaswom board cdb the asis efforts to improve the basic amnesties at the palace could not take off after some tiff with the cdb currently the asi is in the process of sorting out the issue we will have to settle the issue with the cdb before signing an mou with the tci which has evinced interest in adopting the mattancherry palace said an official with the tourism department the tcis activities should be carried out under the asi to prevent the monument from falling under the custody of corporates said professor n ramaswamy member of the state art and heritage commission the asi has not been doing anything at heritage sites except erecting their mandatory blue boards i feel any move to improve facilities for increasing the number of visitors should be welcomed the work conducted by private companies should be reviewed in a timebound manner he saidmeanwhile cpi state secretary kanam rajendran slammed the move while inaugurating a humanchain protest in front of the palace those who sell out public sector companies have begun selling monuments based on financial interests he said