Delhi CM tells CS to approach Centre over UNESCO tag issue

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today held a high-level meeting over Centre's decision to withdraw the nomination of Delhi as a UNESCO world heritage city and directed the Chief Secretary to approach External Affairs and Culture ministers to know the way forward.
During the meeting held at the Delhi Secretariat, Kejriwal expressed "surprised" over the Modi government's move to pull the city out of the race for the coveted tag.
The chief minister directed the Chief Secretary to talk to the officials concerned in the two Union ministries to know the reason behind the withdrawal of the nomination, what the chances were now and how it could now be taken ahead.

After years of preparations, the Centre had recently withdrawn the nomination for the heritage city, saying the prestigious tag, if granted, will put "lot of restrictions" on carrying out infrastructure works in the national capital.
In today's meeting, the chief minister sought to know the reason for the withdrawal and said, "he was surprised over the decision".
Kejriwal also said that either he or Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia would be happy to go and meet Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj or Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma if a need comes in this regard.
The government had earlier written to the Centre after the withdrawl asking the reason behind taking that step. Chief Secretary K K Sharma will write to the Centre asking why the decision was taken, a senior official said.

The central government's decision to pull Delhi out from the race came just a month before UNESCO is to set to review the nominations for the coveted tag. Besides, Delhi, there are 38 other nominations for inclusion into the heritage list.