About two years after the Centre withdrew its nomination for UNESCO’s World Heritage City list, the Delhi government is likely to take up the issue with Union Culture Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma soon.
According to Delhi government officials, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the Tourism and Culture portfolio, has this week reviewed the matter and is expected to write to Dr. Sharma soon.
In its 49-day tenure in 2014, officials said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had sent Delhi’s proposal to the Centre. An official said that while the then-UPA government had forwarded the proposal in 2014, the NDA government withdrew it in 2015.
With UNESCO announcing its World Heritage City list in July this year and Ahmedabad becoming the first Indian city to get the tag, Mr. Sisodia is expected to push for Delhi’s case in the next round, or for UNESCO’s Imperial Capital Cities list.
Development restrictions
In 2015, Dr. Sharma had said that the reason to withdraw Delhi’s nomination was that the tag of a heritage city would bring with it certain restrictions on urbanisation and development in order to conserve the heritage.
However, government officials said that two areas included in its dossier for the nomination: Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone and Shahajahanabad, were already subject to restrictions in order to conserve their architectural heritage.
