Demolitions won't affect Delhi's heritage city nomination: INTACH

NEW DELHI: While the prospect of losing a part of capital city's colonial legacy might have upset heritage lovers, a top INTACH official says the dismantling of over 500 British-era bungalows in Lutyen's Zone will not affect the nomination for Delhi as a World Heritage City.

"The government decision to dismantle and rebuild over 500 Lutyen's bungalows will not affect our UNESCO nomination for Delhi as a world heritage city, because as part of the dossier, we had only included the layout of the Lutyen's Bungalow Zone and not the bungalows per se," INTACH Delhi Convener A G K Menon told PTI.

The Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH) on behalf of the Delhi government has worked on the nomination for past few years preparing a heritage tag dossier which includes -- the Mughal-era Shahjahanbad and the Lutyen's Bungalow Zone.

"If it is the bungalows we had listed in our dossier, then the proposed dismantling would have affected the nomination. But, since we only kept the town planning as a whole, and the new bungalows are planned to be rebuilt in the original style, it doesn't," Menon said.

At least 516 bungalows in the posh Lutyen's Delhi zone, built almost 90 years ago, are proposed to be dismantled and rebuilt with modern specifications like earthquake resistance at an estimated cost of Rs 3000 crore.

According to a plan firmed up by the Urban Development Ministry, the bungalows which house ministers, judges and top officials of the government will be razed and rebuilt in a phased manner over a period of 20 years.

The reconstruction work on 29 bungalows will be taken up in the first phase as they have been identified as structurally unsafe. The rest 487 bungalows will be taken up later.