Experts Revive Proposal To Secure World Heritage City Status For Ayodhya

Scholars and academics are gearing up to revive a five-year-old proposal to secure UNESCO’s World Heritage City status for Ayodhya, one of the holiest cities for Hindus and the birthplace of Lord Ram, ThePrint has reported.

A group, led by Professor Manoj Dixit, Vice-Chancellor of Ram Manohar Lohia Awadh University in Faizabad, is working on the proposal. The team is being assisted by the Asian Cultural Landscape Association of South Korea, headed by Professor Sung –Kyun Kim of the Seoul National University.

“The very process of forwarding the proposal requires more than a year’s time. We are preparing documents wherein we will cite historical evidence to back our claim,” ThePrint quoted Professor Dixit as saying.

“There are 10 criteria for any project to be qualified for the heritage tag. Most of the current heritage cities had fulfilled only five conditions. Ayodhya fulfils eight out of 10 and we are quite sure of our success,” Dixit added.

The state government, however, is not involved in the process.

“The government has not received any proposal on the issue. Ayodhya is a city for all religions — Hindu, Jain, Buddhism and Islam. There are several temples and monuments, which talk about the harmonious past of the place. Once the team working on this formally sends the proposal, we will take a call,” ThePrint quoted Principal Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi as saying.

Also Read: How Ahmedabad Made It To The Elite List Of World Heritage Cities