At the root of the problem is the age-old tourism vs heritage argument. The lack of touristy places around Vadodara is one good reason to develop tourism around Pavagadh, but that seems to have taken place at the cost of heritage.

Home to 40 per cent of the total reserved monuments in the State, Champaner-Pavagadh is camouflaged today by an assortment of stalls selling anything from fafda-jalebi to cassettes of the latest Hindi film songs, paan-beedi and trinkets. Before you climb up the hill to the Lakulish temple, for instance, you hear, instead of the more apposite bhajan, the latest Hindipop hit.

The approach road to the temple -- a significant piece of Shaiva history and oldest among the monuments here dating back to the 10-11th centuries -- lies hidden behind such shops. No fences separate the protected monuments from the shops.

Managing Director of State Tourism Department Jayant Parimal admits his department had never considered the problem of commercialisation, but also points out that this had never been brought to his notice by the ASI.

District Collector A K Rajesh admits the shops and kiosks are illegal and says he has a plan to remove them. However, he says, this will take more than three months as an alternative site has to be found for the shops.

The ASI cannot claim full marks on conservation either. There are 15 ASI-protected monuments on the Pavagadh hill alone, barring the Kalika Mata temple. This is their estimate; there is no board saying the structures are protected. ``Someone chopped down a board outside the Lakulish temple'', says the ASI's Senior Conservation Assistant Motawala. Easy to do, because the monument attendants and caretakers too are conspicuous by their absence.

Pieces of sculpture and the ruins of monuments lie strewn across the hill with no one to account for them. The ASI says it is ``difficult'' to keep watch over the entire expanse with their limited staff. Asked why no assistance had been sought from the Forest Department -- which holds charge of the hill's forest area -- Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI's Circle Office D R Gehlot replies, ``We'll discuss the matter with the forest officials soon. But we have numbered the sculptures so that we can know if any piece goes missing''.

Another shocking revelation is the manner in which the Jain temples of the Digamber sect, under ASI shelter, have been painted. A pujari of one of the derasars told Express Newsline that the blackening of the temples over the years had prompted the Digamber trust, which holds worshipping rights of the temples, to ``beautify'' them. The trust, incidentally, also decided to ``create better facilities'' for visitors and pujaris by constructing a Dharamshala. Only, they broke down a plinth of a derasar in the process and decided to construct well within the regulated ASI area.

According to Gehlot, the derasars being living temples have religious sentiments attached to them. ``Not that we haven't taken cognisance of the violations. We had filed an FIR with the police against the trust and some persons were also taken into custody,'' he says.

Asked why the illegal structure had not been razed as permitted under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, Gehlot admitted they had the power to do so. But going by the number of monuments the ASI has to look after, the district and State authorities should also have a role to play in assisting our efforts''. He points out that the authority to construct in the area lay with Land Revenue Department and representations to restrict the shops and kiosks had been forwarded by the ASI to the district collectorate.

Gehlot, meanwhile, says he had included the Lakulish temple in this year's revised conservation programme. ``Now that you have told us, we'll set up wire-mesh fences along the road to curb the encroachments,'' he says.