QUTAB Minar and Humayun’s Tomb are UNESCO World Heritage sites. But a casual walk through and across the structures belies that: neither has ever had a brush with a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP), now made compulsory for World Heritage Status.
The good news, though, is the ASI is finally addressing the situation and is set to make complete revamp plans for both monuments for the first time.
As per UNESCO’s World Heritage site guidelines, a monument and the area around it are supposed to be “aesthetic” to the eye, with food kiosks and shops less than eyesores.
A senior official from ASI, however, says it was not compulsory for to make CCMPs along with the nominations at the time the Qutab and Humayun’s Tomb were made World Heritage sites. “But now we have decided to do so; the monuments require them,” the official says.
Under the conservationplan, the two monuments will become more “tourist-friendly”, ASI officials say.
But the ASI official says the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s nonchalance is not helping them one bit. The official takes the instance of a food kiosk “right at the entrance of Qutub Minar”, which the ASI will try to remove. “We have been trying to get that particular kiosk, and a row of dhabas near the monument, removed by writing to the MCD for long. But we have not had any response so far.
“With a new CCMP, however, we hope to address these issues afresh.”
The ASI, though, had come for some flak earlier, too, for its lack of upkeep when the Red Fort lost out in the race for World Heritage site status in 1992 despite winning a nomination. Reason: ASI did not have a proper plan for the Fort, though to a large extent that was also because the Army controlled a major part of the structure then.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture is pulling in sponsors to get the city in shape before 2010, which includes “involving private players on an experimental basis”.
“We do not have adequate resources for doing all the conservation ourselves, so we have outsourced some work,” Culture Minister Ambika Soni had told Newsline earlier. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on August 30, Soni said, “With a view to completing the conservation projects within time limits earmarked, a decision was taken in 2006 to outsource conservation works to qualifying agencies on an experimental basis. Safdarjung Tomb and two colonial buildings are now outsourced.”
In a public-private partnership programme, SAIL will fund the revamp of Lodi Gardens, while the Aga Khan Trust will revamp Sunder nursery and Baoli and Atgha Khan Tomb in Nizamuddin Dargah complex.
CCMP for Red Fort ready
The CCMP for Red Fort, in the making for nearly two years, is finally complete. As part of the programme, some Army structures within the complex would be razed, a better drainage system would be set up, besides restoring arches and broken marble carvings. The Fort was added to the World Heritage List this year, and became the third Delhi monument to get the acclaimed status.