Puducherry learns from Ahmedabad, in bid to get UNESCO World Heritage City tag

With the recent notification of 114 heritage buildings in the Boulevard in Puducherry as protected structures, the Puducherry government has taken another step in its bid to get a UNESCO World Heritage City tag. Taking a leaf out of Ahmedabad’s success, a delegation from Puducherry has visited the city twice now, to learn about the process of securing a World Heritage City tag. According to Ashish Trambadia, director of Ahmedabad World Heritage City Trust, “The delegation from Puducherry visited Ahmedabad to understand the process of applying for a World Heritage city tag, the guidelines required and measures for the same.” Speaking to The Hindu, during an ongoing visit to Gujarat organised by the Press Information Bureau, he said, “The one good thing that we learnt from Puducherry even after getting the tag from UNESCO was that Puducherry has a restrictive covenant against the demolition of buildings.” Mr. Trambadia said that generally, any regulation may impose restrictions on new development, but Puducherry is the only city that has a restriction in place which says that a building cannot be demolished even if it is not a listed heritage structure. According to him, “Intach, in association with the Puducherry government, is now working on a tentative list while the Puducherry Planning Authority will simultaneously start working on the Heritage Management Plan.