NEW DELHI: Union culture and tourism minister Prahlad Singh Patel said on Monday the government is considering adding the Statue of Unity in Gujarat and the Konark Temple in Odisha to the list of monuments that will be developed as ‘iconic sites’ in India.An announcement to this effect was made by Patel during a discussion of the demand for grants for the ministry of tourism. So far, the government has identified 17 places in the country as iconic sites for developing world-class infrastructure to attract tourists. The number, Patel said, will rise to 19 with the addition of the Statue of Unity and Konark temple.These will be developed along with the five archaeological sites of Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Hastinapur in UP, Shivsagar in Assam , Dholavira in Gujarat and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu In separate responses to questions raised during Question Hour on Monday, Patel also told LS that over 320 instances of encroachments were reported at centrally protected monuments in the country, while 24 monuments remain untraceable.