After botching up Chandigarh’s prospects to make it to UNESCO heritage list in the past, the UT Administration has again set the ball rolling for the preparation of a fresh dossier to be sent to UNESCO showcasing city’s unique architecture and urban planning.
Also, learning from past mistakes, UT Administration has decided to send a communiqué to the Union Ministry of Culture seeking their
assistance on how to go about the matter.
Besides, apprising the Ministry about their decision to apply for the prestigious UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) heritage status, the UT Administration would seek their opinion on Chandigarh’s dossier and when and how the application should be sent to UNESCO this time.
After its past debacles, the UT Administration has this time, decided to tread cautiously on the UNESCO
heritage issue keeping the Union Ministry of Culture in the loop.
Recently, a meeting in this regard was held in UT Administration where the UT Urban Planning Department was directed to begin drafting a fresh dossier taking opinion of experts outside the UT Department besides roping in Department’s officials.
last year, the Administration had decided to include the unique concept of Sectors, Margs of Chandigarh in the dossier. In a dossier submitted to UNESCO in the past, the city’s Capitol Complex, Government Museum and Art Gallery among others were listed as core zones.
The dossier comprising all the relevant documents and maps pertaining to unique characteristics of a city must reach UNESCO by January 31, the deadline to apply for the UNESCO status every year.
In the year 2012, the UT Administration’s top brass had met the officials from Archeological Survey of India (ASI), which is the nodal agency for sending Indian entries to the UNESCO. After deliberations over the issue of UNESCO heritage status for Chandigarh, the officials from ASI had also visited various architectural masterpieces in Capitol Complex and had shown keen interest in sending city’s application for next year.
When contacted, KK Sharma Adviser to Administrator said, “The Administration has decided to prepare a fresh dossier to apply for the prestigious UNESCO status. We have initiated the process and experts would be roped in to prepare Chandigarh’s dossier.”
“Besides, the UT Administration would write to Union Ministry of Culture seeking their assistance into the matter,” he added.
Notably, Chandigarh is already on the tentative list of heritage sites since 2006 for the urban and architectural work of city’s French Architect le Corbusier in Chandigarh.
In the dossier to submitted UNESCO earlier, the Capitol Complex in Sector 1, Government Museum and Art Gallery were listed as core zones. The Capitol Complex besides being the administrative hub of two states namely Punjab and Haryana, also includes eye-catching and esthetic Open hand monument, High Court museum, tower of shadows and several other significant buildings.
A team of UNESCO
delegates had also visited the city in 2007 to have an insight into le Corbusier’s designed Chandigarh. Vying for the UNESCO heritage status since 2007, the UT Administration could not submit the dossier in past years.
The UNESCO world heritage status is likely to bring acknowledgement, funds, status, heritage conservation efforts and tourists to Chandigarh.