Cultural Affairs Minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury on Monday told Parliament that the government has published a list of 554 gazetted immovable archaeological sites and is taking up a project to establish a National Digital Cultural Repository.

“The list of 554 immovable archaeological sites gazetted by the government has already been published on the official website of the Department of Archaeology,” he said.

The minister was replying to a scripted question from ruling party lawmaker Fahmida Haq (Women Seat-18) during the question-and-answer session in the House.

The sitting began around 3:00pm with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad in the chair.

Nitai Roy said the Department of Archives and Library has taken up a Tk 239 crore project to preserve manuscripts, folk heritage, and cultural artefacts, make them accessible globally, and transform them into digital archives.

The project is currently awaiting final approval from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, he said.

“If the project is approved, it will be possible to quickly implement a National Digital Cultural Repository to preserve the country’s archaeological resources, manuscripts, folk heritage and cultural artefacts and make them accessible to people around the world,” said the minister.