New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS): The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been able to identify 36 monuments out of the 92 reported to be "missing" and only 21 fall in this category, Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch said Friday.

A recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General said that 92 monuments under the ASI's protection had gone missing.

The minister had then asked the ASI's field officers to submit a detailed report.

"The team had been working overtime on this because it is such a big issue. They have been able to identify 36 monuments from the missing list, 12 monuments have been submerged under dams, eight have been encroached upon, one is unaccounted for and 6 are still under verification. They haven't been located because of urbanisation," the minister said at a press conference.

According to the team's report, there was some miss-communication between the ASI and the CAG team, and when a question was raised how such a thing could happen, the minister said: "We have been short-staffed and there are many places where only one guard looks after two monuments. So, it is possible that miss-communication has happened."

"There will be a revival of 1,877 posts shortly, and we hope to put things in place," she added.

The minister also hoped to bring more monuments under the ASI's protection to make up for the missing monuments.

"There are 3,678 monuments that are protected by us. We would like to add more so that what we have make out for the loss and preserve our heritage," she said.