We present the results of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations to detect H{sc i} in absorption towards the cores of a sample of radio galaxies. From observations of a sample of 16 sources, we detect H{sc i} in absorption towards the co
re of only one source, the FR,II radio galaxy 3C,452 which has been reported earlier by Gupta & Saikia (2006a). In this paper we present the results for the remaining sources which have been observed to a similar optical depth as for a comparison sample of compact steep-spectrum (CSS) and giga-hertz peaked spectrum (GPS) sources. We also compile available information on H{sc i} absorption towards the cores of extended radio sources observed with angular resolutions of a few arcsec or better. The fraction of extended sources with detection of H{sc i} absorption towards their cores is significantly smaller (7/47) than the fraction of H{sc i} detection towards CSS and GPS objects (28/49). For the cores of extended sources, there is no evidence of a significant correlation between H{sc i} column density towards the cores and the largest linear size of the sources. The distribution of the relative velocity of the principal absorbing component towards the cores of extended sources is not significantly different from that of the CSS and GPS objects. However, a few of the CSS and GPS objects have blue-shifted components $gapp$1000 km s$^{-1}$, possibly due to jet-cloud interactions. With the small number of detections towards cores, the difference in detection rate between FR,I (4/32) and FR,II (3/15) sources is within the statistical uncertainties.
We report the results of our observations of HI absorption towards the central region of the rejuvenated radio galaxy 4C29.30 (J0840+2949) with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The radio source has diffuse, extended emission with an angula
r size of $sim$520 arcsec (639 kpc) within which a compact edge-brightened double-lobed source with a size of 29 arcsec (36 kpc) is embedded. The absorption profile which is seen towards the central component of the inner double is well resolved and consists of six components; all but one of which appears to be red-shifted relative to the optical systemic velocity. The neutral hydrogen column density is estimated to be $N$(HI)=4.7$times10^{21}$($T_s$/100)($f_c$/1.0) cm$^{-2}$, where $T_s$ and $f_c$ are the spin temperature and covering factor of the background source respectively. This detection reinforces a strong correlation between the occurrence of HI absorption and rejuvenation of radio activity suggested earlier, with the possibility that the red-shifted gas is fuelling the recent activity.
