ASI director-general dies in Nashik mishap

ASI director-general dies in Nashik mishap
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 15: Ajai Shankar, Secretary to the Government and Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, died on Monday night in a car accident near Nashik. He was 57.

Shankar, was on an official tour to Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad. At about 9 pm the car he was travelling in collided with a tractor trolley near Nashik. He was immediately rushed to the Sai Baba Mandir Samatorium in Shirdi where he was declared dead. The body of the senior IAS officer is being brought here and the cremation will take place at the electric crematorium at 12 noon on Wednesday. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Shankar, who was responsible for setting up several museums in the country and Dilli Haat, now a major landmark in the Capital, belonged to the 1966 batch of IAS, from Madhya Pradesh cadre.

He had several publications to his credit on theatre, ancient history and musueology which were presented at major international conferences conducted by bodies like UNESCO. He was instrumental in settingup the National Conservation Laboratory for cultural property at Lucknow, National Museum of Man at Bhopal, Museum of Sahariya Tribe at Sheopur and Art Museums in Datia, Chanderi, Bhind, Morena and Sheopur.

At Gwalior he converted the historical ceremonial tank, Baijatal, into a cultural complex with a floating stage which received national and international tourism attention. As Director General of ASI, he took up the works of conservation of monuments and excavations including Dholavira, on the largest scale ever.

Shankar was a consultant with the UNDP and UNIDO and was former chairman of the central Cottage Industries Corporation of India and Council of Handicrats Development Corporations.