The Hindu Business Line : Workshop on managing heritage sites begins

Part of the `Training series on the management and conservation of world heritage sites' from the United Nations Institute for Training And Research (UNITAR), this is the first national training exercise conducted on the theme. Domestic counterpart for the workshop is the city-based Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI).

"With 26 inscribed sites and an additional site expected to be included on the list, the World Heritage Convention system is particularly present and relevant in India. Mumbai itself has two inscribed World Heritage sites - the Elephanta Caves and Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (Victoria Terminus). Also, the city is in the process of preparing a World Heritage nomination dossier for the Old Mumbai area, thus providing the training workshop with a live case study,'' an official statement from the organisers said.

The workshop, which is in partnership with UNESCO, will introduce participants to basic knowledge, information and updates on the World Heritage regime and current topics regarding heritage management, set down the underlying principles of value-based heritage management, identify policies and strategies pertaining to Indian heritage management, explain legal and policy planning techniques and discuss case studies.

There will also be study tours to two world heritage sites. The faculty consists of Indian resource management experts identified by UDRI and UNITAR / UNESCO resource persons from abroad.

When contacted, Ms Abha Narain Lambah, Conservation Architect and Historic Building Consultant, said the workshop directly addressed a commonly encountered complaint in the conservation field, that of the various involved agencies not talking to each other.

With senior officials from Archaeological Survey of India, private conservationists, architects and NGOs participating, the workshop has brought different groups to one table for dialogue. While the current training may use world heritage sites as immediate context for study, the experience gained is bound to be useful for other conservation initiatives as well, she said.

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