Ahmedabad: It was a historic moment for Ahmedabad when Unesco declared it as a world heritage site—the first Indian city to get this status. Celebrations were in order as proud residents of Ahmedabad welcomed the event as the dawn of a new era. AMC commissioner Mukesh Kumar said that Ahmedabad deserves a big congratulation for getting the world heritage site status.
"We have formed a special purpose vehicle named Ahmedabad Heritage Management Society which will be operationalized soon to conserve around 2600 heritage properties in the walled city," Kumar said.
City mayor Gautam Shah credited the Times of India for its relentless campaign. "It is a great day for Ahmedabad. Credit for the move goes to PM Narendra Modi who moved the proposal along with people of Ahmedabad."
The walled city burst into celebrations. Maitreyi Pasawala, a resident of Desai ni Pol, said that it's a matter of celebration.
Debashish Nayak, who pioneered the setting up of the AMC's heritage cell, said, "This is a victory of the people of Ahmedabad."
Rizwan Qadri, chairman of Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee, said that residents of the city should strive to maintain this living heritage.
Acharya Tejendra prasad of Kalupur Swaminarayan Temple said: "The global status would motivate the walled city area to conserve its unique identity."
NaMo joined mission to push city's bidver the past eight years, The Times of India championed Ahmedabad's candidature for Unesco's World Heritage City status with a relentless campaign, which had the support of the Gujarat chief minister at the time, Narendra Modi.
When TOI published a series of articles in November 2009, campaigning for the World Heritage City status to be granted to Ahmedabad, Modi himself suggested that the quality of the campaign had the potential to form a book.
He wanted the book to serve as a document for the city's World Heritage City bid.He later wrote the foreword of the coffee-table book "Ahmedabad Next — Towards A World Heritage City'.
He released it on the occasion of the World Heritage Day on April 18, 2010. This was followed by the publication of two more heritage books by TOI: "Sarkhej Roza — Ahmedabad's Acropolis" and "Gandhi's Ahmedabad — The City That Shaped India's Soul".
All three books are part of annexures that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation sent as part of the dossier to the culture ministry to be forwarded to the Unesco.
