Ahmedabad: For the first time Trust positions of several UNESCO World Heritage religious buildings, including four mosques and two temples, in Ahmedabad’s Walled City, plan to use the proceeds from the sale of transferable development rights (TDR) attached to their properties to finance their Recovery and conservation.
A temple trust has succeeded in doing this by paving the way for the restoration of five more religious buildings through the sale of TDR. Applications have been submitted to the government-appointed Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC). The aim is to sell these TDRs to the developers and use the funds to carry out necessary repair and restoration work.
This information was disclosed through an RTI application filed by Mohammed Farooq Kansara, a resident of Patwa Sheri in the Walled City. The minutes of the HCC meetings confirmed the requests made by the religious institutions. Among the institutions that have applied, TDR agentSatidham Temple Seva Samiti in Dariapur received approval for 206.7 sqm TDR in June 2021.
As far as mosques are concerned, the heritage wooden mosque in Tankshal ni Pol, a category 2A building owned by the Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Board, is in the final stages of processing its TDR application.
The mosque has applied for funds for brick restoration, repair of cracks and repair and restoration of wood. Rizwan Kadri, president of Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee (ASMWC), expressed his commitment to the preservation of the UNESCO World Heritage wooden mosque. He said, “An agreement has been signed with Cept University for conservation work, the estimated cost of which is Rs 4.7 million. The TDR, if approved, could go a long way in funding this work.”
In addition, the ASMWB has applied for TDR for three other mosques that are UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Shakkarkhan Roza, the Shiraji Sahib Masjid and the Jalowali Masjid.
Gujarat State Waqf Board chairman Dr Mohsin Lokhandwala said the issue of mosques being able to apply for TDR funds for repair work is yet to be discussed by the board. He said he could not comment on the matter until it was formally examined. “The Satidham temple case was the first one to be considered for TDR during the 46th, 47th, 56th and 57th HCC meetings. It was discussed at length and finally approved,” said a senior AMC official. Other notable applications include those of Ramji Temple and Ganesh Temple in Raikhad, both of which are Category 2A listed buildings.
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