NEW DELHI: The decision to pull Delhi out of the race for UNESCO World Heritage City tag has left history and heritage lovers disappointed.
“It is an anti-climax. All our efforts have come to naught. And to remove it at the last moment is an anomaly,” says INTACH Delhi Convener A G K Menon who led a team in preparing a voluminous dossier for the nomination.
“We worked so hard on it since the conception of the idea.
We conducted seminars, workshops, quizzes and tried to reach out to the young and the old of the city in our bid for the final goal. The government’s decision is heart-breaking,” he told PTI.
The Centre today said that the tag, if granted, will put a “lot of restrictions” on carrying out infrastructure works in the national capital.
But, Menon said, “The area nominated is barely 1.5 per cent of the total Delhi area. It was the pride which we were aiming for through this recognition but only if decision-makers could understand the value of heritage preservation.”
Menon claimed that “the government took this decision without consulting any of the other stakeholders concerned.”
“We live in a democracy and it is a federal structure. At least we should have been consulted before finalizing the decision.”
The efforts to get the coveted tag was initiated by the Sheila Dikshit government which commissioned Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to prepare a dossier for the bid.
Delhi’s bid for the prestigious tag was being seen as a role-model for “other historic cities to follow suit”.
“But, now this shocking news will set a very bad precedence,” former Regional Director (North) of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), K K Muhammed told PTI.
“It has dashed the hopes of so many people, who have been working for preservation of heritage in the country. It was supposed to be a moral booster for them, but instead it is a sad commentary,” he said.
Menon said “it is a completely wrong notion that heritage is against development. We wanted the tag for Delhi because we saw the city as symbolic of India where heritage and development can go side by side.”
Muhammed added that, “Delhi was seen as India’s effort to get its first world heritage city. And, after Delhi, cities like Varanasi could have followed suit. But, it is so unfortunate that is out before the race has begun.”
The two areas listed in the dossier are Shahjahanabad in old Delhi which has the Mughal-era heritage and Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone (LBZ) in New Delhi, part of the new imperial capital designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker after the 1911 Delhi Durbar.
Former Additional Director General, ASI, B R Mani said, “We wanted the tag for Delhi because we believed in it. The Urban Development Ministry had earlier also had some reservations but then ASI wrote a response letter and the matter was resolved. I wonder why such a move was taken again.”
The Ministry of Culture had sent the initial nomination to UNESCO in 2012 and the final dossier for it was sent in January last year.
A team from the world body had visited the city in October to examine the heritage sites mentioned in the dossier. The decision on the nomination was expected sometime this June.–PTI
