Ahmedabad: While we celebrate Ahmedabad declared a world heritage site in July 2017, see the official website of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will make people think that the Civic body has not received good news.
“Ahmedabad will be the first Indian city to receive the status of the UNESCO World Heritage City – the tentative application received by UNESCO for the same thing,” claim the official website Ahmedabadcity.gov.in.
This quote is included in the note that Padmashri and 2018 Pritzker architecture BV Doshi has written to AMC when it was included in the tentative list of UNESCO in 2011.
And even four years after Ahmedabad pocketed tags into the city of India’s first World Heritage, AMC has not shown much interest In updating websites with related information.
What is more surprising is that except for Bhadrakali Temple, there are no monuments from the walled city, even Haveli or Wood houses from centuries, have managed to reach heritage.Ahmedabadcity.gov.in – Sub One page -Domain is associated with the AMC website Who celebrates the status of UNESCO City.
Interestingly, there are no legacy sites, including 65 jain temples – some of them are the same as the city itself – and Islamic monuments known throughout the world to mix the style of Saracenic and Indian architecture known as ‘Gujarat Style’, have found placed on this web page.
The Siddi Sayed Mosque, Rani SIPRI Mosque, Jumma Mosque, Jhoolta Minara, Rani No Hajiro and not even 12 Ahmedabad gates which are part of Ahmedabad’s official document for UNESCO has been recognized.
Instead, if you click on the ‘World Heritage City’ banner on the AMC website, this site shows buildings that are not part of the list of world heritage and also outside the walled city.
It includes Lake Kankararia, Gandhi Ashram, Lake Vastrapur, Sardar Patel Memorial, Museum of Calico, Kite Museum, Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum, Camp Hanuman Mandir, Adalaj Ni Vav, Sarkhej Roza, Vaishnodevi Temple and even Riverfront.
But wait, there are even more disappointments in the store when you click on this “Heritage Monument” image.
The link directs you to the machines back on the Internet Archive’-a site that stores the picture of the front page of the website from the past.
If you really want to learn about Unesco City status, it is available at whc.unesco.org, details provided by AMC.
Rajesh Dave, Chair of the Recreational Committee, Culture and Heritage AMC told TI that he was not aware of this problem and would check it out.