Overview
- State agencies began a government-led excavation at the Kote Veerabhadreshwara Temple premises in Lakkundi, Gadag district.
- The effort is a joint operation by the tourism department, the archaeology department, the Lakkundi Heritage Development Authority and the district administration.
- Officials demarcated and notified a 10-by-10 metre area for digging, deploying JCBs, trucks and tractors for the work.
- Fifteen women and five men have been engaged on site, according to an officer involved in the project.
- The operation follows a boy’s discovery of a copper pot containing about 470 grams of gold ornaments estimated to be 300–400 years old, which he handed to authorities.