The monuments at Mamallapuram may have contributed Rs 6.75 crore last year to the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) treasury, but the centrally-protected monuments in Tamil Nadu got a raw deal from its custodian. Despite the contribution, ASI earmarked Rs5 crore for the maintenance of 413 heritage structures in the state this year.According to details furnished by the Union ministry of culture, Karnataka, which is home to 506 monuments maintained by three different circles, received Rs22 crore. It is followed by the Amaravathi circle in Andhra Pradesh which got Rs6.5 crore for 129 protected monuments. The Thrissur circle in Kerala has been allocated Rs3.5 crore to maintain 28 monuments. The Hyderabad circle, with eight monuments under its ambit in Telangana, received Rs3.5 crore for annual maintenance.Sources in ASI said such disproportionate fund allocation has hit conservation work. ASI officials said they required Rs10 crore to maintain monuments in Tamil Nadu besides additional allocation for special work. But given the contribution from TN, the allocation is less, they said.“Conservation would be planned for a particular period but had to be postponed by a few months due to lack of funds,” an official said. Tamil Nadu has seven ticketed monuments of which Mamallapuram generates the maximum revenue. “Revenue from ticketed monuments cannot be used for the conservation of the same monuments. Maintenance has to be carried out only from the annual budget allocated for every circle,” an official said.The average expenditure for conservation of ASI monuments in Tamil Nadu during the past five financial years was Rs7.75 crore. But with the allocation for the current fiscal of 2018-19 at just Rs5 crore, each monument would get Rs1.2 lakh every year. ASI officials have to carry out maintenance within that budget.B Athmanathan, research coordinator at Lakshmi Vidya Sangham in Madurai, said non-ticketed ancient monuments of ASI in the state were getting a step-motherly treatment. “The Jain monument at Azhagarmalai in Madurai, dating back to third and sixth century, is crying for attention. There is no proper access and hardly any protection for the site,” he said.When contacted, ASI spokesman D N Dimri told TOI that funds were not a constraint for protection of monuments. “We will provide additional funds if the respective circle seeks more allocation for conservation,” he said.