Guwahati: Assam government is using cutting-edge technology to preserve its heritage while making it more accessible and interactive for the public.
In a significant step towards preserving Assam’s rich cultural heritage, heritage sites across the state will soon be digitised and made accessible to the public through QR codes.
This initiative is part of a collaborative project between the State Innovation & Transformation Aayog (SITA), Assam, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-Guwahati), aimed at creating a comprehensive digital atlas of the state’s heritage sites.
Vice-Chairman of SITA, Narayan Chandra Borkataky, recently visited the Madan Kamdev Temple at Baihata Chariali, Kamrup, to initiate discussions regarding the temple’s restoration and preservation.
As part of the project, IIT-Guwahati will use modern technology to virtually reconstruct the temple, helping to uncover its architectural features and gather data on the materials used in its construction. This virtual reconstruction will also provide valuable documentation for future research and preservation efforts.
Following his visit to the temple, Vice-Chairman Borkataky reviewed the progress of another ongoing project at IIT-Guwahati, the “Annotated Atlas of Heritage Sites of Assam: A GIS Documentation (Phase I).” This project, also funded by SITA, focuses on developing interactive maps of Assam’s heritage sites, which will be publicly accessible via QR codes.
The project will produce a printed version of the atlas, along with detailed, annotated information on various heritage sites, making it the first of its kind in the state.
During the meeting, Borkataky stressed the importance of conserving Assam’s historical sites through geo-tagging, noting that technological innovations from IIT-Guwahati would play a critical role in the project. He also emphasized the broader significance of preserving cultural heritage in the digital age, as modernization and globalization increasingly threaten historical sites around the world. By leveraging metaverse applications and other digital tools, the project aims to make Assam’s heritage globally accessible while ensuring its preservation for future generations.
The first phase of the atlas covers over 57 documented sites, including religious landmarks, colonial structures, and engineering marvels. These sites are color-coded based on their historical periods and visualized on interactive maps, with ongoing efforts to expand the database. The maps will also display the density of heritage sites in clusters, such as the Jalukbari Legislative Assembly Constituency offering a comprehensive view of Assam’s cultural richness.
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Deba Kumar Mishra, District Commissioner of Kamrup, accompanied Borkataky during the visit, along with officials from SITA, IIT-Guwahati, and the Heritage Conservation Society of Assam.
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