Jaipur: Jaipur’s Walled City is staring at a critical test as the state govt races to meet UNESCO’s Dec 2 deadline for submitting the Special Area Heritage Development Plan (SAHDP), a key requirement to retain its World Heritage status. Officials admit the schedule is extremely tight.PDCore, the turnkey agency tasked with preparing the plan, has not yet submitted the draft. Meanwhile, the heritage cell of Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) has completed only three of the 15 stakeholder workshops planned for the Walled City. These consultations are meant to gather inputs from residents, traders, conservation experts, civic agencies and other stakeholders before the final report is prepared.Members of the heritage cell said the remaining workshops must be completed before a consultation report can be compiled. The report, along with the SAHDP draft, will be sent to Archaeological Survey of India. ASI will review the documents and forward them to UNESCO.“The schedule is tight. We are hoping against hope to complete the process and forward the report and draft to ASI by the last week of Nov so that it reaches UNESCO by Dec 2,” a senior heritage cell member said.Confirming the development, LSG secretary Ravi Jain told TOI that he had discussed all the concerns raised in the high court observation and has asked the officials to comply with the directives before the deadline. “We are serious about Walled City conservation. As far as SAHDP is concerned, we are trying our best to compile and forward report to UNESCO by Dec 2,” Jain stated.The issue has gained urgency after recent observations by Rajasthan High Court. Following the court’s remarks, Local Self-Govt Department secretary Ravi Jain held a meeting with the heritage cell Friday. Sources said Jain constituted a team to prepare a compliance report for the court and directed officials to complete all SAHDP-related formalities within the stipulated time.Although chief town planner (LSG Department) Priti Gupta was not available for comment, a senior Urban Local Bodies official said failure to meet the deadline could prompt UNESCO to begin proceedings that may ultimately threaten the Walled City’s heritage tag. The first step would be reactive monitoring, under which UNESCO directly assesses conservation measures at the site.“Reactive monitoring itself is a demotion and a matter of shame for Rajasthan and India,” the official said, adding that Ahmedabad has already been placed under reactive monitoring scrutiny.
