CENTRE KILLS DELHI’S HERITAGE CITY DREAM
Delhi is no longer vying for UNESCO’s World Heritage City
status for which it had been preparing for the past seven years.
The Centre withdrew the capital’s nomination earlier this
month fearing a heritage tag may hamper development in the city. Experts,
however, refuse to believe it is a reason good enough.
The Sheila Dikshit-led Delhi government and the UPA
government at the Centre had applied for a heritage tag for Delhi, showcasing
the Mughal-era Shahjahanabad in Old Delhi and the Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone --
designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker after the 1911
Delhi Durbar.
Union minister for culture Mahesh Sharma, however, said
on Friday that there would have been restrictions on any construction had the
city got a heritage tag. “We had a long discussion on the issue with the urban
development ministry. There were reservations from the urban development
ministry that if Delhi is declared World Heritage City, there would be lot of
restrictions,” he said.
A urban development (UD) ministry official confirmed that
officials of culture ministry had discussed the issue.
The culture ministry had sent the initial nomination to
the UNESCO in 2012 and the final dossier for it, prepared by the Indian
National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was sent in January last
year.
Conservationists, however, said such restrictions are
imposed only around archaeological sites and a heritage tag would have only
promoted development work in future.
“It is a puerile argument. Only 1.5% of the city
(Shahjahanabad and LBZ) was being showcased for the heritage tag. How could that stop development in the rest
of the capital? All other heritage cities like Paris and Rome have conserved
heritage and managed development together,” said AGK Menon, convenor,
INTACH that signed an MoU with Delhi government in 2008 to prepare for a
tentative listing and prepared the final dossier.
Menon
said that a heritage tag would have improved tourism thus contributing to the
economy. “With no investment, tourism can benefit an economy. Spain, for
instance, has 50 million population and 85 million tourists. Branding has great
value,” he said.
A team from UNESCO visited the city in October last year
to examine the heritage sites mentioned in the dossier and a decision was
expected this June.
“The
heritage status helps improve the infrastructure and create smart facilities.
It was a good opportunity to access funds from international bodies for
development. It is not correct to think that heritage is not pro-people. London
is also a heritage city. That doesn’t mean there is no development there,” said
urban planner AK Jain.
He said the urban renewal of Nizamuddin Basti is a living
example of how heritage can bring about development.
Delhi
government, in the meanwhile, has decided to write to the Centre that
nomination is withdrawn without consultation of Delhi elected Govt. Center control
only Land, Law & Order not culture.
“We are
going to write to the Centre to ask why it has withdrawn from the race to get a
heritage tag for Delhi without even consulting us. Delhi government had put in
a lot of effort,” said tourism minister Jitendra Singh Tomar.