The Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) is a Government of India scheme for holistic development of India’s heritage cities. Launched in 2015, the scheme aims to preserve and revitalize the soul of Indian heritage cities to reflect their unique characters and also to encourage aesthetically appealing, accessible, informative and secured environment. overall quality of life through sanitation, security, tourism
Background and launch:
Heritage development is not about just the development and conservation of monuments, but development of entire city. It involves improvement in planning, basic services, security and also improvement of the quality of life, economy and livelihoods of the local people. There are many towns and cities in India which are rich in natural, cultural and historic resources. Since 2006, Ministry of Urban Development has initiated several programs to develop heritage cities of India. But the needs and aspirations of the local people and urban development issues were ignored in those programs. As a result basic amenities like street lights, water supply, toilets, signage are still missing from heritage sites. Also the potentials of local skills, resources and knowledge are yet to be explored.
That’s why Government of India has launched a new scheme for integrated, inclusive and sustainable development of India’s heritage cities. Named HRIDAY (Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana), the new scheme will combine urban planning with heritage conservation for an inclusive and integrated development of 12 selected cities in India. The scheme will focus on reviving and revitalizing the soul of the city areas through focus in four core areas: Physical Infrastructure, Institutional Infrastructure, Economic Infrastructure and Social Infrastructure.
Venkaiah Naidu, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, launched HRIDAY on January 21, 2015. It will cover 12 cities: Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal. The project duration is 27 months (January 2015 to March 2017) and total outlay is Rs. 500 Crores. Central government will provide 100 percent funding.
Objectives of HRIDAY:
- Planning, development and implementation of heritage sensitive infrastructure.
- Service delivery and infrastructure provisioning in historic city core areas.
- Preserve and revitalize heritage wherein tourists can connect directly with city’s unique character.
- Develop and document a heritage asset inventory of cities.
- Implementation and enhancement of basic services delivery with focus on sanitation services.
- Local capacity enhancement for inclusive heritage-based industry.
- Create effective linkages between tourism and cultural facilities and also the conservation of natural and built heritage.
- Urban heritage adaptive rehabilitation and maintenance, including appropriate technologies for historic buildings retrofitting.
- Establish and manage effective public private partnership for adaptive urban rehabilitation.
- Development and promotion of core tangible economic activities to enhance avenues of livelihoods amongst stakeholders.
- Making cities informative with use of modern ICT tools and making cities secure with modern surveillance and security apparatus.
- Increase accessibility i.e. physical access (roads as well as universal design) and intellectual access (i.e. digital heritage and GIS mapping of historical locations/ tourist maps and routes.
Initiatives under HRIDAY scheme:
HRIDAY scheme will undertake several initiatives to develop core infrastructure and urban infrastructure of areas around heritage assets. The initiatives can be grouped intro three categories Heritage Documentation and Mapping; Heritage revitalization and City information and skill development.
1. Heritage Documentation and Mapping initiatives:
- Listing, recording and documentation of tangible and intangible heritage assets of the city.
- Profiling of infrastructure service at/around heritage areas.
- GIS based mapping of cultural and natural heritage assets.
- Develop Heritage Management Plan including conservation or adaptive reuse plans.
2. Heritage revitalization initiatives:
- Revitalization of heritage or historic areas, religious places, ghats, kunds etc.
- Improvement of surrounding areas for safety, stability and conservation.
- Restoration/rehabilitation of heritage monuments.
- Improved sanitation, drinking water facilities, parking, solid waste management etc.
- Development of Heritage walks, religious trails, Street furniture etc.
- Development cultural events, fair and festival grounds and associated infrastructure.
- Development of City museum, interpretation centers and cultural spaces.
- Improvement of roads or pathways, public transportation and parking spaces.
3. City Information and Skill Development initiatives:
- Local capacity strengthening for heritage management linked to city planning and overall growth.
- Development of Websites, Outreach Materials, heritage linked mobile applications, software etc.
- City maps and brochures, direction pillars, signage and digital information Kiosks etc.
- Installation of CCTV cameras and setting up Wi-Fi zones.
- Training of tour operators, guides, local artisans and women entrepreneurs.
- Support for marketing, promotion and development of local heritage industries and cottage industries.
Cities covered under HRIDAY Scheme:
The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) is currently being implemented in 12 heritages cities spread across India. The cities are: Ajmer in Rajasthan, Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, Amritsar in Punjab, Badami in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat, Gaya in Bihar, Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Puri in Odisha, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Velankanni in Tamil Nadu, Warangal in Telengana