The Times of India                    26.10.2010

Walled City to get cobbled roads

JAIPUR: Jaipur has come a full circle and the conservationists have some reasons to cheer about. As the Walled City, the first planned city in the country, has been fast losing its old heritage look, the JDA has mooted a proposal for laying old cobbled roads in the area to restore its old rustic look.

According to JDA commissioner Sudhansh Pant, the first road to to be taken up as part of a pilot project is the one from Hawa Mahal to Jorawar Singh Road which is around 100-150 metres long. According to old timers, the the old city roads were made of cobbles and in some areas remnants of this roads are still visible. Gradually, metal roads replaced the cobbled roads. If the experiment was found a success, then this could be replicated in the other major heritage sites in the Walled City, he said.

The maintenance of roads in the Walled City was actually the responsibility of Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC). However, recently the road from Badi Choupad to Jorawar Singh Road was transferred to the JDA.

World over, the practice is that not only the heritage structures, but even the roads and other facilities around them were maintained in its old look to give a feel of the era. However, in India, very few structures follow the practice.

The stone roads are more durable and they match with the old style buildings than the metal roads. Stone roads could even survive waterlogging unlike the metal roads. According to sources, the idea was born out of the visit of the JDA and JMC officials to participate in the heritage conservation programme organised by Unesco in France. On his return from France, the commissioner had constituted a special cell in the JDA for heritage conservation purposes even when JDA had very few sites under its jurisdiction.