Dikhyaa Mohanty 
UNESCO delegation visited Visva-Bharati to evaluate technical details on the basis of an application by the authorities to include the national university established by Rabindranath Tagore in the World Heritage Site list.
According to the reports, the seven-member team, comprising members of two advisory bodies including the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was supposed to visit Santiniketan between September 28 and October 3.
A nominated property is independently evaluated by two advisory bodies mandated by the World Heritage Convention: the ICOMOS and the IUCN. They provide the committee with evaluations of the cultural and natural sites nominated, respectively.
This is the Union Culture Ministry’s second appeal to the UN body to secure the status for Santiniketan. The Ministry had in 2010 also appealed for the same. The original application in 2010 had been pushed to the “tentative” list after a technical evaluation of the site by the ICOMOS. It was then pointed out that development pressure on the campus had tampered with the site’s heritage value.
The ASI with the help of the University prepared a fresh dossier and submitted it to Unesco. An ASI team, led by its Director-General Vidya Vaidyanathan, had camped at the university in January to prepare the report, finding answers to the questions that were raised the last time.
Accordingly, renovation of various traditional buildings and invaluable sculptures scattered all over the university is underway and the central government sanctioned about Rs 3 crore for this purpose. A total of 24 buildings and architectural renovations that have the potential to be collectively listed as World Heritage are going through the entire renovation. The varsity authorities have also formed their own committee for this purpose.
News Source – ANI
Pic Courtesy – Google
