Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 21: As a part of World Heritage Week celebrations, Intach Jammu Chapter projected the importance of cultural heritage of rural areas before the galaxy of senior officers of the Rural Development Department and other departments here.
Sheetal Nanda, Secretary Rural Development Department (RDD) presided over the session. She advised the officers of RDD to conserve and preserve the water bodies as well as other rural heritage components in the original form without using cement or modern techniques and materials. She also briefed the officers that water bodies listed and documented by Intach Jammu Chapter will be helpful for the grass root level officers and panchayats for maintaining the records and for restoration and conservation of Natural Heritage projects.
SM Sahini, Convener, Intach, Jammu Chapter briefed the house about the importance of conservation of Rural Heritage for future generations which will connect them to their cultural heritage roots. He further explained that Intach has already listed more than one thousand water bodies in Jammu District and listing work is still going on. The types of water bodies documented in the brochure are Pacca Ponds, Kaccha Talab, Chapries, Lakes, Wetlands, Wells, Stepwells and Baolis. All these components need to be conserved to save the water which is a very important natural heritage component of Rural Development Department.
Dr CM Seth, State Co-Convener, Intach briefed the officers about the importance congression around ponds for exchange of cultural heritage traditions in the communities which are passed on from generation to generations. The greenery around the ponds indicates the herbal garden with rich traditional flora and fauna of the area. He appealed to the officers present in the event to revive old traditions for preservation of cultural heritage as well as customs/rituals of the area.
SS Rissam, Event Co-ordinator, Intach conducted the proceedings and explained about the Intach at national as well as chapter-level activities to sensitize the general public through heritage conservation programmes.
On the occasion, Secretary RDD Sheetal Nanda released a wonderful brochure documented and produced by Intach Jammu Chapter depicting the types of water bodies in Jammu district.
Dr Suvidha Khanna, Faculty from SHTM Department, University of Jammu, Kripal Singh, Shantanu Gupta, Sunil Seth and Balbinder Singh members of Intach Jammu Chapter participated in the event.
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