The 5 day brainstorming work shop on the preservation and beautification of the rich heritage of the City of Lakes, Udaipur concluded today at the City Palace Hall.

The  International Workshop on ‘Integrating Heritage Resources in Master Plan of Udaipur’ was held from 19^th -23^rd March 2012 was jointly organized by the Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC); Government of Rajasthan; City of Strasbourg and the Indian Heritage Cities Network – Foundation in association with Resource Organisations, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation; INTACH Udaipur Chapter; Dronah, Gurgaon.

Speaking to the media, Rajni Dangi, Municipal Commissioner, Udaipur said that the representatives of the City of Strasbourg emphasized that in order to preserve the cultural and heritage values of the city, the historical and ancient buildings of the city need to be preserved.  In order to achieve this, it is important that the listing, compilation mapping, etc. of these sites need to be completed as soon as possible.

The City of Strasbourg was represented by Geraldine Mastelli, Architect and Urban Planner – Urbanism and Development; Francois Nowakowski, Architect and Urban Planner and Alice Delzant, Project Officer, Ville et Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg.

The members from the City of Strasbourg were also of the view that for the purpose of signifying the prominence of culture and heritage of the city among today’s youth and the coming generations, it is important to prepare information bulletins and boards on each such heritage site, so as to maintain facts update among people.

Further, it was suggested that work on the 8 routes identified for the Heritage Walk as suggested in the workshop be started on priority.

It was also important to identify and remove the violations that have been setup alongside Ayad, so as to preserve and beautify the Ayad river.  The participants were of the view that instead of constructing an upright retaining wall alongside the river shore, a step-by-step wall be constructed.

The participants from Strasbourg were also of the view that the water flowing in from the Thur Paal, be treated en-route by setting up water treatment plants, so that the water does not get contaminated while it enters the city, as it does now.

To preserve the heritage symbolism of Mewar, it was suggested to prevent any external construction from taking place on the heritage buildings.  Any facilities to be constructed should be limited to the internal part of these buildings.

The CEO of the IHCN (Indian Heritage City Network), Govindan Kutty; Satyanarayan Acharya, Commissioner, Municipal Council, Udaipur; Dinesh Kothari, DDR-DLB, UMC; S.K. Verma, Convener, INTACH, Udaipur Chapter; B.L . Mantri of B.L. Mantri Associates, Udaipur; Prof. Mahesh Sharma; Prem Singh Shaktawat, Concilor, UMC; K.K. Kumawat, President of Law Committee and Councilor, UMC; Satyanarayan Mochi, Chairman of Parks Committee and Councilor, UMC; Bhupendra Singh of City Palace, Udaipur; Dr. Mayank Gupta of City Palace, Udaipur; Manish Arora, AEN, UMC and Neeraj Mathur, Ex-Engineer, UMC were among the other notable participants at the concluding session of the workshop.