ASI transfers officer: DMK & TN parties cry foul

ARCHAEOLOGIST K Amarnath Ramakrishna, who first excavated Keezhadi in Madurai and whose findings triggered a war of words between the BJP-led centre and the Tamil Nadu government, faced his 12th transfer in his 21 years of service as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) relieved him from his post of Director (Antiquity) on Tuesday.

- T MURUGANANDHAM @ Chennai

Ramakrishna, who was serving as the Director (Antiquity) and as Director of the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA), will henceforth be the director of only the NMMA.

While TN parties have been asserting that the Keezhadi report provides evidence to indicate that the Sangam Age — which shows the antiquity of Tamil — could be pushed back to 800 BCE, making it around 300-500 years older than what was earlier thought, the union government had demanded more data, evidence and proof to acknowledge that claim. Reacting to Ramakrishna's transfer on Tuesday, the ruling DMK has alleged that "it is a ploy to withdraw the (Keezhadi) report and dilute the findings".

The senior archaeologist, who is facing his third transfer since being promoted to the rank of a director, will have to shift from his office at the ASI's headquarters in New Delhi to the office of NMMA located in Greater Noida, sources said.

Interestingly, H A Naik, the officer who had directed Ramakrishna to rework his report on the first two phases of excavation in Keezhadi (located in Sivaganga district near Madurai) with additional information regarding the dating, has been given additional charge as director (Antiquity).