Abstract:
This research on “Creating Awareness for Heritage Conservation in the Jaffna Municipal Council
area”, was carried out with the objectives, of marking out the heritage assets located at the Jaffna
Municipal Council area, finding out the reasons for extinction of these heritage assets, evaluating the
current management plan by considering difficulties faced in their maintenance and identifying
strategies for their protection. Besides, the sustainability of heritage assets is important to keep up the
aesthetic, cultural and traditional aspects of the Jaffna Municipal Council area. Thereby the importance
of this research is to pay attention on the aspects which are relative to heritage assets and to protect
them. We could view the problems related to Heritage sites found in the research area as follows The
Heritage sites in the research are not being identified completely, Large number of Heritage sites being
destroyed partially or fully by war activities, Impacts of plants and animals, Shortages of Archaeological
experts etc. are the problems for the Study. This Study had been undertaken by obtaining , data relevant
to the distribution of heritage signs, classification of Heritage related assets, the impacts of
Development projects on the Heritage signs of the Peninsula, Management activities, data on laws,
data obtained through the methodologies of direct visits to study related areas, direct observations,
and field study , the data regarding the History and importance of heritage, institutionalized activities
and Laws, the data obtained through interviews with people and officers of the Departments of
Archaeology, RDA, RDD, MC and Buildings and data obtained from Reports of Archaeological
Department, Feasibility Study Reports, literature and Magazines, and by Organizing them and
analyzing them through Tables and maps. On the basis of the conclusions obtained from this Study, it
had been found a situation is prevailing where that 15 % of the Heritage related assets in the said area
are without anyone to take care of them and the Heritage related assets which could reveal the
traditional identity of the Tamil Nation are in a state of deterioration. It was observed that the reasons
for this are, the climate, being affected by war activities, the in-efficiency of Institutional structure,
uncontrolled Development, and occupation. The overall Study conclusions show that the identities of
the nation are being hidden by inducing adverse impacts on the heritage related assets. Hence it is found
that solutions should be identified for protecting the Heritage related assets so as to ensure their
survival. While creating sustainable Development, this study will take into consideration the
endangered Heritage signs within the town and protecting and handing over of the affected or destroyed
signs to the future generation.
