CHANDIGARH: The UT administration is not interested in availing the UNESCO world heritage site status for Chandigarh as it is about to miss the January 31 deadline for submitting its dossier in 2012. The administration had decided not to send its nomination last year as well, advocating that it wanted to focus on heritage conservation instead.

There has been disinterest about the coveted status despite Chandigarh managing to find a place on the tentative heritage list in 2006. Once placed on UNESCO's permanent list, the UT would not only join the league of cities like Tel Aviv, Brasilia and Le Havre (France), but would also find a place on international tourism map.

Sources in UT administration confirmed that no formal nomination would be sent this year to seek the UNESCO world heritage status. The move is in sharp contrast to the three consecutive years- 2008, 2009 and 2010- when the administration had tried hard to get a place on the heritage list.

In the last proposal finalized by the architecture department, it was decided to divide UT's entry into two parts- capital complex and cultural complex- with focus on 12-15 key buildings designed by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. These included High Court, Assembly, Sukhna Lake, Leisure Valley, Museum and Government College of Art.