ASI’s Unnao gold excavation cost Rs 2.78 lakh: Govt

The Archaeological Survey of India spent a little over Rs 2.75 lakh in its unsuccessful excavation to dig out gold at Daundiya Kheda village in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh where a priest claimed that 1,000 tonnes of the yellow metal lay buried in the ruins of a fort.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik said the ASI had took up the trial excavation to understand the archaeological significance of the site. A total expenditure of Rs 2,78,751 was incurred for the trial excavation, he said. Approval for conducting trial excavations at Daundiya Kheda village was granted by the director general of ASI, he added. The excavations hit the headlines after archaeologists began digging for treasure beneath the 19th century fort, after a seer said a former king appeared to him in a dream and told him that 1,000 tonnes of gold lay buried in its ruins in October 2013. However, no gold treasure was found at the end of the excavation. PTI