After dragging its feet for years, the UT Administration is set to give its best for seeking the prestigious UNESCO heritage status.
Instead of seeking UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) heritage status for the entire Chandigarh, the Administration is now preparing to acquire heritage status for the decades-old Capitol Complex designed by French architect le Corbusier.
After its past debacles, the UT Administration has this time, decided to tread cautiously on the UNESCO heritage issue. The authorities concerned have already swung into action to prepare a fresh dossier seeking UNESCO heritage status for the Capitol Complex in Sector 1 here.
Besides, the UT Tourism department has been entrusted with the task to send a communiqué to Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Union Ministry of Tourism and Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs seeking their assistance on the issue.
The department will apprise the ministries about UT’s keenness to preserve the modern architecture here and to apply for the prestigious UNESCO heritage status. The Administration would also seek ministries’ opinion on Chandigarh’s dossier and when and how the application should be sent to UNESCO this time.
Earlier in 2008 also, the UT Tourism department had taken the initiative to seek UNESCO world modern heritage city status for the City Beautiful. Besides coordinating with the neighboring governments of Punjab and Haryana, the department had also written to MHA and Ministry of Culture Affairs on the issue.
A senior official of the UT Administration said “the UT Tourism department has been directed to send a communiqué to the concerned ministries and coordinate with them on the crucial issue. Also, the UT Urban Planning department has initiated process to prepare a dossier to be sent to UNESCO for the purpose.”
The official said “this time, instead of seeking UNESCO heritage status for the entire city, the Administration would focus on getting heritage status for Capitol Complex.”
Notably, the Capitol Complex has been placed under Grade I of heritage status by the Administration in an attempt to preserve these heritage structures.
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 Capitol Complex, besides being the administrative hub of two states, namely, Punjab and Haryana, also includes eye-catching and aesthetic Open Hand Monument, High Court museum, Tower of Shadows and several other significant buildings. That time, the dossier was prepared in 2006 by Dr Kiran Joshi, who was then a faculty member of Chandigarh College of Architecture.
A 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 2012, the UT Administration’s top brass had also 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 ASI officials had also visited various architectural masterpieces in Capitol Complex and had asked the Administration to preserve the buildings.
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.
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 has failed to submit the dossier in the past years.
Violations in Capitol Complex
Tampering done with the original designs of le Corbusier in Capitol Complex is likely to affect its prospects to make it to the list of UNESCO heritage site. Ad hoc need-based changes such as covering of verandas, additional glazings, additional sheds among others have severely impacted the overall ambience of the prestigious Capitol Complex. In addition, poor maintenance, resulting in seepage and leakage of roof terracing, weathering and poor maintenance of shuttered concrete as well as dumping of garbage within the campus has turned these monuments of modern architecture into eyesores in the last half century. Violations like sheds erected in Secretariat for parking cars, use of vitrified tiles, glazing or paint on the exteriors of Secretariat building, non-planned extension of High Court, covering of Secretariat balconies, renovation of bureaucrats’ offices, porch built at the entrance, etc have been done by the neighboring governments of Punjab and Haryana in the past.