Jammu: Demanding that the ‘prized’ fossil of a mammoth excavated in south Kashmir be brought back to the state and handed over to the concerned department, CPI (M) leader and MLA Kulgam, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said that the government should act swiftly and get the fossil back.

He raised the issue of callous attitude of authorities to preserve the prized mammoth fossil, believed to be 50,000 year old, in the Legislative Assembly and urged the Government to take immediate steps in this regard.

The mammoth fossil, which was discovered from Galandhar, Pampore, in 2000, by the students of University of Kashmir and later excavated by a team of experts, has the potential to put Jammu and Kashmir on the map of great mammoth era, Tarigami said.

Tarigami while raising the issue urged the Government to take immediate steps to recover the rare fossil which experts are optimistic would redefine natural and climatic history and human presence in Kashmir.

He said that it (fossil) was unlawfully removed from its makeshift tin shed at the excavation site at Galandhar in 2007 and Government without delaying any further should bring it back and hand it over to the concerned departments in Kashmir.

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