Pondicherry seeks inclusion under Hriday scheme

Puducherry: Puducherry government’s dream to include the city in the next  phase of the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (Hriday) scheme would gain momentum as the three-day visit of officials from six cities selected for the Hriday scheme in Puducherry was successfully completed.
The official team reached  Puducherry to experience the cultural heritage of the town.

Launched in 2015, the scheme is being implemented in Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal.

Organised by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), a research and capacity building organisation under the MUD and Indian National Trust for Art Cultural Heritage (Intach) - Puducherry Chapter, the officials from Varanasi, Gaya, Mathura, Ajmer, Amritsar and Dwarka have gone around the city experiencing the Heritage restoration works, said Madhurima S. Waghmare, team leader and Urban Planner from NIUA.

The visit would help the team members in the successful implementation of heritage conservation and urban revitalisation projects in their respective cities.
“While Mumbai is a perfect model of heritage management, Puducherry has much to offer in terms of management of its heritage assets”,  said Madhurima.

Besides, it has a unique blend of French and Indian heritage structures and associated with tourism connection and the economic connection for a sustainable model, said Ms Madhurima on the last day of her visit to the city. We have seen the buildings restored  in Vysial street, and conservation practices in French and Tamil quarters and interacted with various stakeholders, she added.

The team also visited Auroville and learnt management of tangible and intangible heritage structures as well as the tourism connection.

Besides Intach, various NGOs gave presentations on various aspects of management and conservation of Heritage structures in Puducherry.
“The team is very well impressed by the works that we have done so far to conserve the heritage buildings”,  Ashok Panda, co-convenor of Intach told Deccan Chronicle.

“Puducherry government had already submitted a report to include the state in the next phase of HRIDAY scheme and also held talks with union minister Venkaiah Naidu. We hope that the city will be included in the scheme”, he added.