A fortnight ahead of the last date for nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage Cities inscription, the state government is set to step up pressure on the Centre to revoke its objections on Delhi’s final dossier and allow it to be considered this year.

Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra wrote to the Ministry of Culture last month but with no response from the Centre yet, his ministry is drafting a reminder to be sent this week. “This should not be a political tussle. If Delhi gets the tag it will be a matter of pride for the entire nation. It is the national capital and deserves to be on the list. We had written to the Centre last month and will send a reminder shortly, pushing for Delhi’s nomination. The Ministry of External Affairs had withdrawn the nomination without even consulting or informing us. The dossier for Delhi’s nomination is complete and just needs a push,” Mishra told The Indian Express.

Last year, when the nomination was withdrawn, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP government had criticised the Centre, seeking an explanation. Though Kejriwal and his aides had maintained they would approach External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, the issue was allegedly buried in a string of unanswered letters from the Delhi government to the Centre.

“Since then we have written to the Centre and to different officials and ministers but have received no response. We could not meet any of them directly but our officials have been in talks,” Mishra added.

The last date for forwarding nominations to the UNESCO is January 30 and an expert team is set to meet on Monday to review this year’s nominations. Sources said, Delhi, however, is unlikely to make the cut yet again. Though the final dossier for Delhi was submitted in 2014 and deliberations were on with the World Heritage Centre after queries were raised on several counts, the nomination was pulled out.

Officials in the Culture Ministry said that building by-laws in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone, which is part of the proposed nomination, would have to be frozen and apprehensions that ‘development work’ might suffer made the Centre pull out of the race.

Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, R S Fonia told The Indian Express, “Every year, two entries are made — one each for a cultural and a natural site. For the cultural category nominations, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are under consideration. Both these dossiers are complete and can be forwarded. Delhi’s final dossier has already been submitted but it was withdrawn since the Centre felt it might be rejected.”