Presidential Estate now gets blueprint for its conservation

To restore Rashtrapati Bhavan “to the best extent possible” and send a strong message about the importance of preservation and protection of the country’s glorious heritage, a conservation plan that would serve as a blueprint for all future constructions in the 330 acre President’s Estate has been submitted to President Pranab Mukherjee.

The Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP), as desired by Mukherjee was submitted to him on Wednesday by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, a statement issued on Thursday by the President’s office said.

“President Mukherjee after assuming office had personally instructed that a CCMP be prepared to serve as a blueprint for all future constructions so as to restore the President’s Estate to the best extent possible, to its original plan as outlined by Sir Edward Lutyens and others who planned the complex,” said the statement.

Team of 40 experts

INTACH was then engaged as a consultant for the purpose and the convenor of its Delhi Chapter A G K Menon, constituted a team of over 40 experts in the field of conservation, urban design, landscape, disaster management, infrastructure and services, among others for preparing the report.

“INTACH’s mandate was to identify the original planning principles of Rashtrapati Bhavan and its relation to the overall master plan of New Delhi in terms of urban and landscape design,” the statement said.

“It is also supposed to establish the significance of existing layout vis-a-vis the original design intent, define view corridors, spaces and other features that establishes the heritage characteristics of the area to be conserved, provide guidelines for future development and draft a CCMP for the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” added the statement.

Determined to send a strong message across the country that efforts should be made to “preserve and protect the country’s glorious heritage”, Mukherjee asked the secretariat to examine the report and draw up a time-bound programme for the implementation of its recommendations.