Do not demolish heritage buildings, rather rejuvenate them: PM Narendra Modi
Varanasi: Kicking off the month-long celebrations after the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham (KVD) project, Mayors from over 120 cities have arrived in Varanasi to attend the on-going All-India Mayors’ Conference at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Trade Facility Centre (DDUTFC). The event is a part of the series of post-inauguration events.
Mysuru Mayor Sunanda Palanetra, Shivamogga Mayor Sunitha Appanna, Mangaluru Mayor Premananda Shetty, Davanagere Mayor S.T. Veeresh and Tumakuru Mayor Krishnappa are participating in the conference.
Speaking to Star of Mysore from Varanasi this morning, Mayor Sunanda Palanetra said that she was looking forward to attending a series of events organised as part of the conference.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the event via video conferencing and the theme of the conference is ‘New Urban India’. Appreciating the work of the Mayors, Modi said, “I believe that all the Mayors present here have left no stone unturned for the bright future and development of their cities. This programme in Kashi is very important for the growth of cities in India.”
Hailing the progress made by Kashi in the past few years, PM Modi said that the development in Kashi is a roadmap for many other cities in the country. “The majority of our cities are traditional cities. Their development has also been in a traditional way. We can learn from such places about how local skills and products can be the identity of that city,” he said.
Speaking about how India’s culture and heritage are contributing to the development of the country, PM Modi said, “We should believe in evolution. India does not need revolution today. We don’t need to demolish our heritage buildings and reconstruct them, rather we need to rejuvenate them. I want all the Mayors to take an initiative to bring their city to the top of the cleanest city list.”
The conference is being organised by Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Department in association with All India Mayors Council. The Mayors of Pune and Surat will give a presentation on Clean India Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Groups of five Mayors will be formed and each group will take part in group discussion on urban development issues and a presentation would be prepared on its outcomes.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri were present at the event. An exhibition is also being organised from Dec. 17 to 19 to showcase the key achievements of the Government of India and Government of Uttar Pradesh in the sphere of urban development. Last evening, the Mayors visited the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Memorial at Padao from where they went to Dashaswamedh Ghat to witness Ganga Aarati. Later they visited the Kashi Vishwanath Dham and offered prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
What an irony ! Your report says, PM exhorts the mayors : We don’t need to demolish our heritage buildings and reconstruct them, rather we need to rejuvenate them. !
It is in stark variance to what SOM through its select stories and Voice of Readers has been bamboozling the Readers for last few years with regard to Devaraja Market and Landswdowne Bazar ! Hope the Mayor of Mysore who incidentally for a change belongs to the PM’s own party and Chamaraja MLA who thinks it is the only reason people elected him is to demolish the markets will listen to their PM ‘s golden words and take immediate steps to do everything to save the Heritage markets. As a first step as the rainy season is almost behind us is to take some urgent preventive maintenance work ! Sincerely hope SOM also stops its support to demolition mafia.