our cities should also be vibrant with socio-cultural life, centred around heritage, art and craft - Naveen Patnaik

1. Smart City Cares Heritage

2. Smart City Cares
Heritage

3. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said along with development of
modern amenities and facilities, our cities should also be vibrant
with socio-cultural life, centred around heritage, art and craft.

4. Speaking at the inauguration of 5th International Biennial Conference of
Indian Heritage Network (IHCN) here today, Mr.Patnaik said, ``There are
several cities in India and abroad where this has been done and I am
hopeful that the conference will be a platform for exchange of ideas and
best practices in this field”.

5. He added, I hope more cultural sites of Odisha will come into the purview of
the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. “My Government is committed towards
taking steps towards identifying, preserving and protecting these sites
through listing and documentation, preparation of tourism promotion and
conservation plans and developing heritage resource management plan,’’
the Chief Minister said.

6. The Chief Minister stated that Odisha is known for its rich cultural heritage,
with Bhubaneswar at the centre stage. “Our Kalingan style of temple
architecture, as can be seen in places around Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark,
dates back to the 7th Century AD and is a great attraction to the people visiting
the State. Some of our monuments such as the Sun Temple at Konark, the
Jain caves at Khandagiri and Udayagiri have literally preserved our glorious
history over thousands of years. Bhubaneswar’s cultural heritage is
epitomized by Ekamra Kshetra, which has been the cultural capital over the
centuries’’, he said.

7. ``Our monuments and the associated cultural activities play an important role
in the lives of people of Odisha and give them a special identity. It is thus
necessary to create awareness on our cultural heritage, their protection and
preservation from the continuous onslaught of development and its related
effect. While developing the Smart City of Bhubaneswar we are laying equal
emphasis on preservation of its cultural identity and heritage and also on
promotion of tourism,’’ Mr.Patnaik added.

8. The Chief Minister also inaugurated a students’ competition on theme
"Smart strategies for maintaining the culture and identity of historic cities".

9. Undergraduate architecture students participated in the event and
displayed their ideas on having management plan for different heritage
sites.
Students from Odisha displayed two beautiful plans for Dhauli near city
and Chandragiri in Gajapati district.

10. Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO representative to India, Bhutan,
Maldives and Sri Lanka said there would be better coordination now
between IHCN and Bhubaneswar after this event.

11. Former Director UNESCO New Delhi Minja Yang, who is also president and
professor, Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, KU
Leuven in Belgium, said ``the city authorities can have more heritage linked
activities and exchanges with other partner cities through IHCN for
knowledge-sharing and experience gathering.

12. Vice-Chairman Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and
Municipal Commissioner Krishan Kumar said "We have started a
Heritage Cell in BDA with various experts to take up projects like Heritage
Signage, no hoarding zone in Old Town, change in the skyline of the
Heritage District with regular enforcement, implementation of guidelines
of National Monument Authority.'’

13. The three-day conference will continue till Sunday. Tomorrow there will be a special
heritage walk for the delegates and they would be taken for an experience at Ekamra
Walks Old Town Circuit. Another major highlight of tomorrow’s event, however, would be
a Heritage Dialogue Series to provide a forum for dialogue to understand the challenges
in the way of heritage issues. Local experts including historians, archaeologists, planners,
developers, administrators, NGOs and agencies working for conservation at local, state
and national level will take part in the dialogue on how development policies and
practices can be founded on the cultural heritage, value systems, knowledge systems
and institutions of the people, who are the subjects or beneficiaries of the development
change.

14. The outcome of the dialogue series is to arrive at policy-level
recommendations to address the issues relevant to Odisha and also to
raise awareness and be a platform for advocacy. There will also be a
discussion on how the traditional communities would benefit from heritage
through better participation and greater economic leverage.

15. In the past IHCNF has conducted biennials at Jaipur, Hyderabad, Mysore
and Pune on theme relevant to the heritage sector with the support of the
respective State Governments and cities.

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