Chandigarh will soon be the first city from Asia to feature on the list of World Modern Heritage cities. UT Finance Secretary-cum-Chief Administrator (Capital Project) Karan A Singh said, ‘‘UNESCO has written to us saying that they are considering Chandigarh to be put on the World Heritage List.’’ Sources said UNESCO officials have written that the World Heritage Centre would like to support all the initiatives to put Chandigarh on the list. They have also proposed to choose Chandigarh for a pilot project to conserve modern heritage in the world.‘‘If UNESCO puts the city on the list then it could provide technical and financial support to the administration. It will also send experts to Chandigarh for a conservation management plan,’’ said a UT official.From February 24 to 27, 2003, UNESCO (World Heritage Center) held the Second Regional Meeting of Asia on Modern Heritage in the city and it was decided that Chandigarh could make it into the world modern heritage list. In this regard, Director of UNESCO (World Heritage Centre) had met Union Tourism Secretary, who is understood to have approved the proposal. Sources said the procedure is that first, the Centre has to put Chandigarh on the tentative heritage list of India. This list is submitted to UNESCO (World Heritage Centre) and then only UNESCO can put it on its heritage list. For that, the UT Administration has to write to the Centre since it is not authorised to communicate directly with UNESCO.‘‘Every year one name is considered from each country by UNESCO for the World Heritage list, and only once a year can a country submit its list to UNESCO,’’ said an official.
