Alarmed by thefts, Chandigarh MC to replace 2,000 heritage manhole covers
MC in its agenda to be tabled in house says these covers are prone to theft and there are many cases of these being sold at auctions
Chandigarh: Amid a spate of theft of heritage manhole covers in the city, the Chandigarh municipal corporation has decided to replace all of them with concrete ones.
The city has nearly 2,000 cast iron manhole covers bearing an impression of Chandigarh map, which were designed by French architect Le Corbusier.
An agenda worth ₹75 lakh to replace all of them with precast concrete ones will be tabled during the General House meeting on December 30.
The city woke up to the importance of these manhole covers in November 2010, when a Paris-based auction house, Artcurial, sold one of these for ₹10.67 lakh.
After this, a number of manhole covers went missing. Just two months ago, one such heritage cover was stolen from Sector 22, and another one went missing from Sector 36 in January.
The MC in its agenda acknowledged the fact that these covers are prone to theft and there are many cases of these being sold at high prices in the international market.
The agenda goes on to state that such incidents have brought a bad name to Chandigarh, and all these heritage covers need to be properly preserved and displayed in city-based museums and heritage places celebrating the legacy of Le Corbusier. “UT administrator VP Singh Badnore also desired to preserve them,” it added.
According to the MC, while 2,000 of these covers will be retrieved during the exercise, there may be more such covers that are installed in government and private institutions and other public buildings that also need to be preserved.
‘UT must create inventory, hold auctions’
Welcoming the MC’s move, Ajay Jagga, member, Heritage Protection Cell, said the UT administration should first make an inventory of heritage items and preserve them properly, “an effort that is missing so far”.
He said in 2011, the ministry of home affairs issued a letter banning the UT from exporting or selling items designed by Le Corbusier. He said the administration must start the process to rectify the 2011 order, so that it can hold auction of these heritage items in a systematic manner, rather than allowing private auction houses to mint heavy money every now and then.
He also demanded an investigation into regular thefts of manhole covers and heritage items.
He said in view of the constitutional mandate to protect heritage, this would send a strong message to all “anti-national elements” that the government is committed to protect its heritage.
