bhubaneswar the cashstrapped scions of many erstwhile royal families of orissa feel that the government should preserve the dying palaces at a meeting here last week 20 erstwhile kings expressed their willingness to approach the government seeking financial assistance to develop the palaces into places of tourist importance the maharajas were from puri nilagiri aul hindol khandapada narsinghpur badamba and talcher just as the state government is spending money for restoration of temples and monuments the government should take up the preservation and conservation of the ageold palaces unlike the bygone days most maharajas are not financially sound to maintain the palaces said jayant chandra mardaraj harichandan maharaja of nilagiri in balasore district the nilagiri palace was believed to have been built in 1750 it was renovated and rebuilt in 1893 harichandan said at present 55 palaces exist in orissa sources said most were constructed nearly 500 years ago while some palaces belonged to the era called gadajat rajya princely state many were owned by zamindars there were 22 gadajat states in orissa the royal family members laid stress on the necessity to promote the palaces of tourist interest like rajasthan tourism the orissa government should preserve the palaces and turn it into tourist attractions most of us agreed to allow visitors into our palaces said braj keshari deo maharaja of aul in kendrapada district the 500yearold aul palace sprawls over 20 acres deo said in fact i recently renovated a few rooms to accommodate tourists deo said nilagiri maharaja harichandan also said that he would open some of his rooms in the palace for tourists convener of indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach bhubaneswar chapter s k b narayan said the organization would soon take up documentation of the palaces and appeal to the government to release funds for their restoration the documentation is part of the national mission on monuments and antiquities nmma project launched by the centre in 2007 under the nmma project we would visit the palaces and record the prehistoric and colonial objects and structures stored there the list of the antiques would be sent to the centre narayan said intach would facilitate the move of maharajas to get financial assistance from the government for restoration of the palaces we would also request the maharajas to open museums in their palaces to showcase the antiques he added let intach give us a proposal for restoration of the palaces we would certainly consider it an official of the culture department said tour operators said some of the palaces have tremendous potential to woo tourists mostly foreigners i explored the palace tourism in 1980s tourists were thrilled by visiting some of the palaces the government should promote it like rajasthan president of tour and travel agents ssociation of orissa benjamin simon said