Rani ki vav may be a step closer to world heritage tag

A UNESCO team is currently on a visit to Gujarat to have a first hand view of the Rani ki vav at Patan for whetting a proposal that will grant it a world heritage site status. Having visited the site on Tuesday,the team will tour Patan city on Wednesday to get a holistic view.

Sources in the Archaeological Survey of India said that the team of experts is led by Zhang Jie,a Chinese scholar who is also a UNESCO official. Others in the team are from ASI,Delhi,National Monuments Authority,and local ASI officials. K C Nauriyal,former superintending archaeologist of Vadodara Circle and currently on the same post in Jammu and Kashmir,had prepared a dossier for the stepwell for UNESCO’s approval. He was also part of the team that took round of the vav and its surroundings on Tuesday.

Sources said that the team would hold its next round of meeting in April 2014 when it will send a report to UNESCO’s head office for appraisal by top officials. The 11th century structure was built by queen Udayamati,the mother of Siddhraj Jaysinh.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites,as the team is called,is conducting its final inspection of the site before considering it for world heritage status,sources said. The site made it to the tentative list of world heritage sites list in 1998. Last month,a team of NMA and ASI visited the place and included nearby places like Sahastraling Lake in the list of monuments in its proximity for UNESCO nomination,said sources. A conservation plan and a 100 m buffer zone is already in place,they added.