PK Vasudevan Nair (1947-2020): Man pivotal for Ahmedabad Walled City’s UNESCO heritage tag dies

Before the 600-year-old walled city of Ahmedabad was noticed by the world, Nair worked on re-building some of its monuments, especially the minarets that were destroyed in the earthquake on January 26, 2001.

PK Vasudevan Nair

Archaeological engineer PK Vasudevan Nair who played a pivotal role in UNESCO’s World Heritage listing for Ahmedabad’s Walled City died of Covid-19 aged 73 on Monday. He was the head of the Heritage Department at Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

Before the 600-year-old walled city of Ahmedabad was noticed by the world, Nair worked on re-building some of its monuments, especially the minarets that were destroyed in the earthquake on January 26, 2001.

With 37 years of experience in conservation and restoration of archaeological monuments and sites in Gujarat, Rajasthan and the Union territories of Daman and Diu, Nair retired as assistant superintending archaeological engineer of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

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One of his noted works was as project head for the restoration of the Ta Prohm temple dedicated to Lord Brahma in the Angkor Vat temple complex in Cambodia, carried out in partnership with the Indian government from 2004-’07.

After retiring from ASI, Nair joined the AMC in 2007 as an expert and was the deputy general manager of the Heritage Depar-tment. The formal incubation of the Heritage Cell into a full-fledged Heritage Department happened after his joining.

Nair tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago and was admitted to AMC-run SVP hospital. He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.
His wife, who also got the infection, is still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

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