The ruins of Nalanda University

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) intends to send the draft nomination dossier for seeking the World Heritage tag for the Nalanda ruins to Unesco by the first week of October.

In the meeting of the ASI’s World Heritage advisory committee in New Delhi on Thursday, the state government was directed to prepare a master plan for the future development of the areas around the Nalanda ruins. Chanchal Kumar, the state art, culture and youth affairs secretary, who attended the meeting, was asked to take necessary steps to ensure a 300-metre buffer zone around the ruins.

In another internal meeting of ASI held in New Delhi on September 9, the ASI director-general asked M.S. Chouhan, the superintending archaeologist of the ASI, Patna circle, to submit all requisite details for finalisation of the dossier within a week.

“We intend to send the nomination dossier for the Nalanda ruins to the permanent representative of India at Unesco by the first week of October. He/she would then make a presentation on the same to the Unesco World Heritage Committee. Final touches are now being given to the dossier document,” said B.R. Mani, additional director-general, ASI.

Sources said a presentation on the draft nomination dossier was made during the meeting on September 9. “Several modifications have been sought in the dossier. To incorporate those, the Patna circle has been asked to furnish the requisite details within a week,” said a senior ASI official, who was present at the meeting.

The preparation of the draft nomination dossier, a formal application seeking a position in the coveted list, started last year. The draft nomination dossier is a voluminous document, which deliberates on various aspects about a monument, including its origin, universal significance, exceptional testimony to the civilisation, masterpiece of art and architecture and association with different cultures among others.

At the meeting of the World Heritage advisory committee of ASI held on Thursday, the state government iterated on creating a buffer zone of 300m around the excavated Nalanda University site rather than 1km as initially suggested by ASI.

“We have kept the buffer zone up to 300m around ancient Nalanda University ruins, as there is too much human settlement there. It would be very difficult to remove the population residing in the remaining area and demolish the existing structures,” said Atul Kumar Verma, director, state archaeological directorate.

According to the norms regulating the buffer zone around a heritage site, no new structure is proposed to be permitted in it.

The buffer zone at Mahabodhi Mahavihara, Bodhgaya, the lone World Heritage Site in Bihar, is proposed to be of 3km.

“The art, culture and youth affairs secretary informed that the Nalanda ruins site falls in a rural area, so there is no existing master plan for its development. Accordingly, he was asked to prepare the same for an area of around 3-4km around the ruins,” said the ASI official.

Unesco included the excavated site of Nalanda — one of the oldest universities in the world — in its tentative list of World Heritage sites in 2009.