UNESCO to draw up plan to preserve Darjeeling Railway

Guwahati: Indian Railways signed a Fund in Trust (FIT) agreement with the UNESCO on Friday for development of a Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) for the heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) at Darjeeling in presence of the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and a senior regional representative of the UNESCO in charge of India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
The FIT is aimed at preparing a conservation guideline for the century-old Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) source said here. As per the FIT the UNESCO has been tasked to draw up a CCMP for the DHR.
“Conservation of heritage starts at the hearts and minds of people and Indian Railway would do everything possible to conserve railway heritage,” Prabhu said after singing the FIT with UNESCO and lauded the people of Darjeeling for their contribution towards preserving DHR eco-system.
The Railway already transferred Rs 3.21 crore to the UNESCO to formulate the conservation plan and the FIT signed on Friday amounted to formal launching of the CCMP. The UNESCO with its expertise is expected to draw up a comprehensive plan for preservation of the DHR within two years.
The UNESCO had accorded the heritage tag to the DHR in 1999.
In the CCMP, apart from identifying the core, buffer and heritage areas, UNESCO would create an inventory of DHR assets, come up with guidelines on how to maintain the old heritage structure and document craftsmen associated with the DHR.
The DHR had started operation way back in 1881.
It now has 13 steam locomotives aged over a century and six diesel engines. Last year, a UNESCO team had visited the DHR to conduct a preliminary survey.
The total annual expenditure incurred by the Railway to run the DHR is Rs 15 crore and sources said that for the first time since Independence, the DHR was looking at breaking even, a NFR source informed.