Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation unveils plan for heritage development

India's first World Heritage city, Ahmedabad, has finally rolled up its sleeve for making the development plan. With just one month to go for the first anniversary of the achievement when UNESCO inscribed 5.35 km of walled city as World Heritage City.

"For the city development and conservation plan, we have roped in National Institute of Urban Affairs. We have other local institutes also to help in conservation like Nirma University, GTU, CEPT etc," said Mukesh Kumar, municipal commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC)

Elaborating the process, deputy municipal Ketan Thakkar said, "We have initiated city development and conservation plans for the walled part of the city. Now, we are going to document in details the listed monument, which consists of 2736 structures," said Thakkar.

"The plan includes videography and photography of the structures. Their plan used material, strength, elevation etc. Also, a map of each structure will be prepared. All this process will be done for the future conservation purpose," he said.

Many times, if a portion of the property gets damaged and needs to be repaired, the documentation will be helpful to repair the structure in the exact format. Out of the total listed properties, there are 233 Pol houses, 54 monuments and 49 institutional buildings to be covered for documentation.

Experts believe the plans have been delayed. "It's a great honour that city has received this inscription. However, the next step is followed as quickly as possible. It was told to AMC by UNESCO that Heritage Conservation Plan is very important where it would have various components. Making a management plan, area development plans of the inner city this needs to be rolled out," said Manvita Baradi, convener, INTACH – Gujarat chapter and also a member of Heritage Conservation Committee AMC. "The conservation plan needs to be rolled out by now. The timeline is not yet clear," added Baradi. The heritage conservation is very important for the development of Ahmedabad," said Rutul Joshi, urban planner at CEPT.

"For the people who are staying in the Pols, there needs to be a common policy for refurbishment and that should be incentives," said Joshi.

HERITAGE TO TAKE A NEW STEP

For the city development and conservation plan, we have roped in National Institute of Urban Affairs, Nirma University, GTU, CEPT, said AMC municipal commissioner. 

The plan includes videography and photography of the structures. Their plan used material, strength, elevation etc, said AMC deputy commissioner