Ahmedabad is all set to take its first step towards claiming status of World Heritage City on World Heritage Day - April 18 - when the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will hand over primary documents to the director general, Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
This will be part of a three-day international conference on Asian World Heritage Cities - Indian Cities Looking Towards World Heritage - from April 18 to 20. The conference is being organised under the auspices of Indian Heritage City Network, National Institute of Urban Affairs and ASI.
"We have been preparing some of the documents to claim World Heritage City status for Ahmedabad as it has more than 50 nationally protected monuments. We will kickstart the procedure to claim the prestigious status for the city," said municipal commissioner IP Gautam on Tuesday.
Present at the conference will be the ASI director general, representatives of Asian Heritage City in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam and Thailand, apart from representatives of different Indian cities.
Meanwhile, the AMC is also working out the details of signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ASI to restore the glory of nationally protected monuments.
"We aim to work in the direction where heritage spots can be developed as good tourist places," said Gautam, citing example of AMC's project of restoration of Bhadra Fort in co-operation with the AMC.
