Among the erstwhile royals present were Gaj Sinh of Jodhpur, Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur, Samarjitsinh Gaikwad of Baroda, Kesari Sinh of Wankaner, Mandhata Sinh of Rajkot, among others.
The erstwhile royal families of Gujarat and Rajasthan organised an event on Tuesday to discuss heritage conservation and challenges for Ahmedabad as India’s first heritage city.
Held at the House of MG in the old city, the panel discussions were conducted on issues like private public partnership to conserve heritage, traffic congestion problems, encroachment removal and a proposal on a special economic zone for heritage and tourism in the city.
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Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Mukesh Kumar said, “We have a lot of proposals that we are working on which we cannot announce right now due to the model code of conduct. But talks about having a special economic zone to cater to tourism and heritage are on the table. There are lot of proposals like e-rickshaws , e-buses and e-taxis in the old city. We will also look at dealing with traffic congestion at Lal Darwaza.”
In the panel discussion titled – ‘Opportunities and challenges for India’s first UNESCO certified world heritage city’, Ahmedabad Traffic DGP Dr Neerja Gotru said , “Traffic is an eye sore. We are working on plans ensuring that commercial buildings are also taken into consideration. We have to make sure all stake holders are taken into consideration before coming up with a plan. The police is an intangible asset of heritage.”
While Professor Rabindra Vasavada spoke about the process that went into the making of the heritage dossier and the involvement of students and teachers of the CEPT university, President of Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee Chairman Rizwan Qadri discussed the conflict of interest between members of the government archeology department and those maintaining the city mosques.
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