Experts are preparing a detailed project report to ensure a place for Ayodhya -- one of the holiest cities for the Hindus and the birthplace of Lord Rama -- on the UNESCO’s prestigious list of World Heritage Cities.
Vice chancellor, Ram Manohar Lohia Awadh University, Faizabad, Prof Manoj Dixit is the man behind the initiative. The Asian Cultural Landscape Association of South Korea, headed by Prof Sung –Kyun Kim, is aptly assisting Prof Dixit in his endeavour.
Prof Dixit will soon petition the Uttar Pradesh government to take the initiative forward.
The Asian Cultural Landscape Association met on July 30 to discuss the issue. Prof Rana PB Singh, vice president of the association, presided over the meeting. “Ayodhya fulfils eight out of 10 parameters that the UNESCO has set up for declaring a city as World Heritage City,” Prof Dixit told HT on phone from Faizabad.
{{/usCountry}}The Asian Cultural Landscape Association met on July 30 to discuss the issue. Prof Rana PB Singh, vice president of the association, presided over the meeting. “Ayodhya fulfils eight out of 10 parameters that the UNESCO has set up for declaring a city as World Heritage City,” Prof Dixit told HT on phone from Faizabad.
{{/usCountry}}“We are in the process of preparing a detailed project report on Ayodhya that will be tabled next year in the conference of the Asian Cultural Landscape Association,” he said .
At present, the 606-year-old Ahmedabad, which was founded by emperor Ahmed Shah, is the first Indian city to make it to the prestigious list. It got the World Heritage City tag on July 8 this year.
“It takes 10-12 years to get a city listed as World Heritage City . We have to start the process now to achieve the target,” said Prof Dixit.
There are seven stages of getting on the UNESCO list. Three are related with the technicalities of the proposal and rest are political.
Read more: Gujarat to celebrate Ahmedabad’s world heritage city tag on grand scale ahead of polls
However, Lucknow and Mumbai missed out on their chance to be a part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN ) this year. The union government could only submit Chennai’s dossier to the UNESCO , not Lucknow and Mumbai’s. Now, the next opportunity for submission of dossiers for the UCCN will be in 2019 as UNESCO guidelines permit a country to nominate three cities every two years .
The historic city of Varanasi is also waiting for the coveted UNESCO tag.