New museum to display heritage manhole covers, others to be auctioned

Made of cast iron and carrying an impression of the map of Chandigarh, manhole covers designed by architect Le Corbusier will be displayed at the heritage museum to open at the Government Printing Press in Sector 18. This is part of the UT administration’s move to preserve the city’s heritage and carry forward Corbusier’s legacy.

Made of cast iron and carrying an impression of the map of Chandigarh, manhole covers designed by architect Le Corbusier will be displayed at the heritage museum to open at the Government Printing Press in Sector 18. This is part of the UT administration’s move to preserve the city’s heritage and carry forward Corbusier’s legacy.

The map of Chandigarh can be seen on the manhole covers made in cast iron. (HT PHOTO)

Apart from the covers, in the news recently as two were stolen on Saturday from Sectors 3 and 10, the museum will showcase chairs and other furniture designed by Corbusier, all valued highly in the international market.

Around 2,224 such manhole covers were identified in the city in a 2017 survey carried out by the administration. Some pieces will be auctioned, sources have said.

After the covers are removed the drains will get concrete tops, according to directions by UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida to the municipal corporation (MC) .

Auction plan on the anvil

Plans to auction all items will be drawn up by a three-member expert committee to be set up shortly as per decisions taken at a recent meeting of the Chandigarh Heritage Item Protection Cell presided over by Parida.

“The committee will first identify heritage items such as manhole covers and list out their exact numbers and then develop a roadmap for auctions,” said a senior UT official privy to the development.

Each ‘heritage’ item will first get a hologram giving it a unique identity and then, for releasing it in the international market, a certificate of authenticity will be added.

Preserving the items assumes importance as many such stolen items have surfaced at international auction houses. Saturday’s theft was reported to MC sub-divisional engineer Angrej Singh and a case registered at the Sector 3 police station under Section 370 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code.

Two covers were stolen last year from Sector 36 in January and Sector 22 in October last year.

Paris based auction house Artcurial had auctioned a cover for 17,851 Euro ( ₹10.87 lakh) in 2010.

“Preserving in addition to developing a roadmap for auction is a welcome step. It was overdue for a long time. There have been several cases of theft of heritage manhole covers in the past few years. This will help protect these,” said Ajay Jagga, member, Protection Cell.

When asked how more than 2,000 heritage manhole covers could be managed, Jagga said, “The administration through online platforms like mygov.in should ask people from across the world for suggestions on how these could be preserved.”