{"id":33944,"date":"2018-10-30T15:03:41","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T09:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=33944"},"modified":"2018-10-30T15:03:41","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T09:33:41","slug":"indias-heritage-city-races-to-save-icons-from-polluted-ruin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-heritage-city-races-to-save-icons-from-polluted-ruin\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s heritage city races to save icons from polluted ruin\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/indias-heritage-city-races-to-save-icons-from-polluted-ruin\/articleshow\/61689769.cms\"><b>India\u2019s heritage city races to save icons from polluted ruin\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traffic choked the centuries-old stone archway into Ahmedabad&#8217;s historic quarter as conservation experts warns Ahmedabad, one of the world&#8217;s most polluted cities, facing a huge task defending its newly won UNESCO status as its fragile cultural icon decay under neglect, traffic and trash.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What happened?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 600-year-old enclave was named India&#8217;s first &#8216;World Heritage City&#8217; in July despite few warnings from UNESCO&#8217;s own experts that it lacked a convincing plan for protecting its ancient citadels, mosques and tombs. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahmedabad hosts the towering Bhadra fort, the legendary stone latticework of the 16th-century Sidi Saiyyed mosque, and countless relics fusing the unique Hindu and Muslim architectural styles of its conquerors. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authorities hope the global recognition from the UN&#8217;s cultural body will restore community pride in the crumbling, garbage-strewn old city. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Hope of the moment<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Residents of Ahmedabad hoped that he UNESCO listing would bring standards in her dilapidated neighbourhood into line with newer areas beyond the old city&#8217;s walls. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The chronic air pollution, crushing traffic and chaotic urban sprawl has resulted into as experts say are also rapidly eroding its cultural capital. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The relentless congestion tears apart roads and fouls the air with fumes, streaking stone-carved monuments with black exhaust stains. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long-flouted laws banning construction near heritage sites have also hampered efforts to save Ahmedabad&#8217;s treasures from ruin. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ornate homes have been torn down and replaced by garish structures &#8220;totally incongruous&#8221; with history. The heritage listing would give teeth to those safeguarding Ahmedabad&#8217;s architectural heritage. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are the challenges?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The long-neglected quarters, sealed off from the outside world by intricate alleys, are well beyond restoration. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many traditional &#8216;pols&#8217;, clusters of settlements identified by UNESCO as bearing &#8220;enormous&#8221; historical value are all but abandoned, the iconic wooden homes collapsing from neglect. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahmedabad&#8217;s conservation committee has three years to document close to 3,000 buildings of heritage value to strict UNESCO standards which is a monumental task for Ghosh&#8217;s small team. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNESCO could revoke or downgrade Ahmedabad&#8217;s listing to &#8220;<\/span><b>heritage in danger<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8221; should the deadline be missed and the committee fail to show it has slowed the decline and destruction of the old city.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s heritage city races to save icons from polluted ruin\u00a0 Context Traffic choked the centuries-old stone archway into Ahmedabad&#8217;s historic quarter as conservation experts warns Ahmedabad, one of the world&#8217;s most polluted cities, facing a huge task defending its newly won UNESCO status as its fragile cultural icon decay under neglect, traffic and trash. What&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-heritage-city-races-to-save-icons-from-polluted-ruin\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India\u2019s heritage city races to save icons from polluted ruin\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704890262},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}