TIMES CITY THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017

ECOLOGICAL MIRACLE: MAKING DETHALI TOURIST CULPRITS PROJECTED DALITS AS MUSLIM; YOU
FRIENDLY FOR WINGED VISITORS! | 4 WERE FERRYING BEEF, SAYS TRANSCRIPT | 4

YOURE FUTURE OF CITYS HISTORY Pics: Yogesh Chawda

Unescos World Heritage City Inscription

Brings Honour, More Responsibilities
TIMES NEWS NETWORK line of 2019, ICOMOS de-
manded a detailed documen-
Times View

T
he inscription of tation on the pols, a conser-
5.34 sq km area of vation plan for the wooden
Ahmedabads
Walled City by Un-
O ver the years, Ahmedabad has
earned a reputation of being a
communally polarized city. The
havelis, completion and im-
plementation of key compo-
esco as the coun- city has secured the World nents of management sys-
trys first World Heritage Heritage site status largely due to tem, revision of boundary
City filled Amdavadis and its unique architecture which has and buffer zone to connect
people across the country a strong mix of Hindu-Islamic the city to the river and a
with tremendous pride and influences. Its time for all heritage impact assessment
joy. This is the third world Amdavadis to emulate the with new buildings coming
heritage inscription from architecture and weave together a up in the vicinity that can Manek Nath temple Sarkhej Roza
Bhadra Kali temple
Gujarat after Champaner- harmonious fabric to reclaim the affect the authenticity and
Pavagadh and Ranki Vav in glory of the city. integrity of the world herit-
Patan. age city.
But the announcement
also brings with it a pro-
found sense of responsibil-
ity and duty upon the mu-
ICOMOS in its presenta-
tion had said, While the
key monuments are ade-
However, municipal com-
missioner Mukesh Kumar
claimed that with the special
purpose vehicle for heritage
Walled City ecstatic, seeks
nicipal body and Amadvadis
to collaborate and conserve
the precious heritage. On
Saturday, Unescos
quately protected, ICOMOS
considers that there are
many buildings that make
citys distinctive forms of
projects in place, more funds
in the form of PPP and CSR
can be used for protection of
dilapidated properties.
conservation push
think-tank Interna- pol and puras are vul- Sahitya Akademi winner TIMES NEWS NETWORK
tional Council on nerable Esther David told TOI, By

I
Monuments and and are receiving this honour, we as t was a moment of great pride
Sites (ICOMOS), not yet a city have the responsibil- for thousands of citizens of
which had inspect- sufficiently ity of looking after it. I feel traditional pols of the city on
ed Ahmedabads d o c u - the Walled City needs to be Saturday night when the Walled
Walled City in Sep- mented. spruced up a little as visi- City of Ahmedabad was in-
tember last year, ICOMOS tors may now stream in. But scribed as a Unesco World Herit-
had differed demanded more important is that citi- age City for its unique architec-
Ahmedabads in- implemen- zens and municipal author- ture, way of life, and 600 years of
scription while tation of ity should jointly organize history interspersed with multi-
raising concerns on conser- local area plan, heritage events to take the Walled ple rulers and religions, and en-
vation and management conservation plan and visi- City to its people and the riched by the catalysis of con-
plan and had even offered tors plan on Saturday. country and bring back the stant social change.
Ahmedabad help. While mentioning a dead- glory of the Walled City. Desai ni Pol in Khadia cele-
Celebration at Desai ni Pol
brated the accomplishment by
distributing sweets on Sunday
morning as elders rejoiced at the
significance of the title. Later, a
cake was cut at Heritage House
of Jagdip Mehta. Prominent citi- zens will be encouraged to par- of the area known for political
zens celebrated the occasion. ticipate in heritage conserva- and social leaders Many re-
This was a long-awaited rec- tion. search opportunities are avail-
ognition. We celebrated with fire- We now have to ensure that able to document traditions
works, said Sanjay Patel, a resi- the heritage movement isnt re- such as water conservation,
dent of Kalupur. The Unesco stricted to the elite; it should be- caste- and community-specific
status will boost conservation long to the masses, said Dr He- architecture and local food. We
efforts in the Walled City, which mant Bhatt, the president of the have also proposed the painting
faces problems ranging from Khadia Itihas Samiti, an organi- of facades of iconic areas such
maintenance of heritage proper- zation responsible for painstak- as Desai ni Pol in uniform col-
Fireworks over Kankaria lake ties to encroachment. Now, citi- ingly putting together the history our,

Symphony of faiths heralds triumph Ahmedabads victory

TIMES NEWS NETWORK ic bodys heritage cell was formed
in 1996 to handle conservation
Descendants of Manek Nath
offered special prayers at Manek
a model for others
I
t was a citizens festival! The of the fort walls, step-wells, bird Chowk on Sunday, the Guru New Delhi: Now that Ahmedabad has been
Ahmedabad Municipal Corpo- feeders, and pol residences. The Purnima day. Chandan Nath, the declared a World Heritage City by Unesco,
ration (AMC) and other institu- cell also organized the now famed mahant, said: Heritage is not historians, urban planners and others hope
tions celebrated the inscription of heritage walk. The gazette no- just monuments, it is also tradi- that policy-makers will stop looking at herit-
the Walled City as a World Herit- tification of June 2016 listed for tions conserved by citizens. Its age as a burden.
age City, on Saturday night. conservation 2,236 residences our responsibility to take our in- This is wonderful news and I hope it will
Mayor Gautam Shah offered and 449 institutional buildings, heritance forward. make people look at heritage differently and
prayers at the Bhadra Kali tem- an official said. At Sarkhej Roza, on the Urs open up the doors to many other old cities,
ple on Sunday and said that peo- Fittingly, Ahmedabads tri- of the Shaikh, devotees offered which have the potential of becoming World
ples heritage had been recog- umph spurred a unique conflu- a new chaddar and prayed for Heritage Cities, noted urban planner and
nized. The AMC team celebrated ence of faiths on Sunday as the the citys prosperity. A qawwali architect A G K Menon said.
at the AMC office after which of- two great icons associated with performance was organized too. He expressed the hope that policy-makers
ficials and citizens participated the citys foundation Baba Bhavna Ramrakhiani, advisor, and others would not consider heritage as a
in a public event on the Kankaria Manek Nath and Shaikh Ahmed Sarkhej Roza Committee, said burden and anti-development.
lakefront. Ganj Baksh Khattu were hon- that the citys founders laid a The city of Delhi was nominated by India
AMC officials said that the civ- oured. timeless foundation. in 2015 for the same category but the Centre
pulled out of the race towards the end of the
process.
Menon, a former convener of the Delhi
The selection It is a dream come A city is made by citizens Chapter of the heritage group, INTACH, said
has put positive true. Let us join and belongs to all citizens. the AMC and the state government as well
pressure on city hands to conserve When every citizen loves as the people all worked very hard to make
administrators to the heritage which the city and cares for this dream a reality.
The honour, he said, was a lesson for
perform better. The the world has it, we will truly take our civic bodies around the country.
heritage tag is not acknowledged, and great legacy to the next Delhi-based heritage activist Sohail Hash-
permanent. let us make this a generation. mi, however, sounded a word of caution.
Now, the civic beautiful place Umang It is indeed a moment of pride for all of
administration must which draws people us. But this achievement comes with a price.
Hutheesing We know Delhis nomination was withdrawn
expedite development from across the | FOUNDER because many decision-makers thought it
plans for the old city. globe PRESIDENT,
(the UNESCO tag) would hamper urban in-
HUTHEESING
Abhay Mangaldas | B V Doshi | HERITAGE
frastructure expansion, he said.
FOUNDER-DIRECTOR, HOUSE FOUNDER, VASTU FOUNDATION Ellisbridge Ahmedabad has 26 ASI-protected struc-
OF MG SHILP FOUNDATION tures.

Drugs destroy life of 42 societies go on green

addicts, ruin their families overdrive, plant 1,000 saplings Yogesh Chawda

Former Junkies yor Gautam Shah and Hari

Om Gandhi, zonal director,
TIMES NEWS NETWORK pagating tree plantation dri-
ves.
NCB, had flagged off the event. Ahmedabad: On Sunday, Bharat Sisodia, a senior
Tell Their Gandhi said that the pur- hundreds of residents from member of the group, says,
pose of the initiative was to 42 housing societies in Mote-
Recovery create positive peer pressure. ra area showed Ahmedabad
After three years,
We are already working on that trees can be planted
Stories the drug menace from the
supply side by nabbing the car-
with responsibility and ear-
nestness. Close to 1,000 sap-
those who have
taken care of trees
TIMES NEWS NETWORK riers and suppliers. But we al- lings were planted by resi- will win prizes
so want to curb the demand si- dents at a recently-develo-
Ahmedabad: Vinay Oza (na- de by creating awareness abo- ped municipal garden and in The main sponsors of the
me changed), an engineering ut the ill-effects of contraband. each of the participating so- event are the local provi-
student, believed that he could Ride for a Cause was organized by the Narcotics Control Bureau Hence, fortnight-long activiti- cieties in Motera. sions store owners who actu-
never live without brown su- es were planned to spread awa- Sundays tree plantation ally depend on business
gar. Over the years, he tried all front of over 1,000 people at Sa- dicts and helping them shun reness, he said. drive had a unique incentive from all residential societies
imaginable natural and synt- barmati riverfront on Sunday drugs. Gandhi further said that attached to it. Each tree here. The local builders too
hetic psychotropic substan- morning. Bike-a-Thon: Ride for a the Healthy Campus initiative planted by the societies had have contributed to the cau-
ces. Oza was among the four yo- Cause, organized by the zonal of the NCB and various colle- a plaque next to it. se and plan to support the en-
One fine day, I woke up to uths who decided to come and unit of Narcotics Control Bu- ges are already promoting he- After three ye- will win prizes. The same nior officials of the Ahmed- deavour in future as well.
the realization of how I was ru- share their lifes stories. They reau (NCB), Wajra-o-Force, althy living on and off campu- ars, those who incentive was extended to abad Municipal Corpora- Another member, Sushil
ining my life and how it was af- had fallen into bad company and other organizations, saw ses. have taken ca- families living in the 53 tion (AMC). The residents Joshi, a professor at govern-
fecting my family and friends. and believed that taking drugs participation by around 1,000 During the fortnight, vo- re of trees societies in Motera themselves formed an NGO ment engineering college,
Leaving that life was not easy was part of being cool. But af- bikers and 200 other volunte- lunteers had reached out to which had carried out named, Creating Aware- says: More than the elders,
but with the support of well-
wishers and counsellors at Na-
ter some time, they realized
that that road of drugs led to
ers who started from the Sa-
barmati riverfront behind
more than 50,000 individuals
through seminars, campus vi- Make City the tree plantation drive
in their own societies.
ness To Change Habits
(CATCH), and have been
it is the young amongst us
who are more enthusiastic
ya Jeevan de-addiction centre,
I found a new life, he said, in
nowhere. These youths are al-
so reaching out to other ad-
NID at 7 am on Sunday and en-
ded the event at 10 am. City ma-
sits, road shows and pledge ce-
remonies. BREATHE AGAIN The event was atten-
ded by the mayor and se-
practising waste segrega-
tion in 53 societies and pro-
in the effort. We will partici-
pate in more such drives.