New Heritage Conservation Committee orders audit of past restoration approvals in India's first UNESCO World Heritage City of Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad: In a decisive move to preserve the historic character of Ahmedabad, India's first UNESCO World Heritage City, the newly restructured Heritage Conservation Committee has hit pause on nearly 40 heritage restoration approvals that the previous panel issued earlier this year.
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The committee flagged irregularities in two key meetings held this year, where most members were municipal staff and not officially appointed conservation experts.
A subcommittee will now review the building permissions across five wards.
The HCC is a key body responsible for recommending conservation, restoration, and adaptive reuse of heritage properties within the Unesco-inscribed World Heritage City zone.
This decision came during the 95th HCC meeting held on May 20, and concerns actions taken in the 93rd and 94th meetings conducted on Jan 22 and Feb 12 earlier this year.
According to a senior official in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the legitimacy of those two earlier meetings has been questioned. A senior municipal official told TOI, "A majority of the members present during the two HCC meetings were municipal employees, not state-appointed HCC members.
So, the recommendations from the meetings will be examined by a newly formed subcommittee."
These decisions involve permissions for 39 buildings across five wards in the Walled City. Most of these applications, 19, are for residential and commercial properties in Khadia, including areas such as Sankdi Sheri, Fatasha ni Pol, Sevaka ni Wadi, Akasheth Kuva ni Pol (including Dakorewali Khadki), Ranchoddji Mandir, Raipur Chakla to Sarangpur Chakla, and Verai Pada ni Pol.
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Additionally, there are five applications from Dariapur ward (including Dandigara ni Pol and Jadabhagat ni Pol), eight from Kalupur ward (covering Gosaji Maharaja ni Pol, Raja Mehta ni Pol, Haji Patel ni Pol, Gheekanta Road, and Chippa Pol), five from Jamalpur ward, and one from Raikhad ward.
The AMC official further said, "It was the arbitrariness of the decision-making process that led the now municipal commissioner-led HCC to form a subcommittee to review all 39 decisions."
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