varanasi the city is all set to celebrate world heritage week from november 19 to 25 events like seminar cultural programme photo exhibition and competitive programmes will be organised by the cultural and archaeological departments and archaeological survey of india asi to mark the occasionthe basic objective of the event is to create awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage and the efforts that are required to protect and conserve the priceless heritage and ancient monumentsbut will such programmes really serve the purpose are the local authorities serious enough to protect and preserve the priceless heritage of this millenniaold citytake the example of 232yearold stone temple of kashi vishwanath built in 1777 by maharani ahilya bai holkar of indore it was painted with enamel paint a couple of years back without a thought to its fatal effect on the stone structure that enshrines one of the 12 jyotirlingas of lord shiva to correct the mistake hectic efforts are being made inviting expert opinion from different organisations for the restoration of temples original look one of the organisations national research laboratory for conservation nrlc lucknow estimated a cost of rs 219 crore for removing the enamel paint from stone walls the work is yet to be executedit can be well understood what treatment is being given to other lesser known heritage sites and buildings when the original look of famous kashi vishwanath temple which is visited by millions of devotees across the country has not been preserved obviously in such circumstances celebrating world heritage week is nothing but a mere formalitythe organisers have no comprehensive data on how many heritage buildings are decaying or on verge of decay however according to city development plan cdp prepared under the jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission jnnurm there are around 2000 temples of different sizes in the city that need protection besides narrow lanes characterise the old city of varanasi and its rich architectural legacy attracts travellers to the religious and cultural mosaic that forms an integral part of varanasis tradition the area comprising ghats temples and old city has been identified as a cultural heritage zoneaccording to a paper on varanasi by prof rana pb singh department of geography banaras hindu university bhu the cultural and natural heritages are increasingly being threatened by destruction not only due to the traditional causes of decay but also by changing social and economic conditionsvaranasi is believed to be the oldest living city of the world but it is yet to be included in the list of world heritage of unesco though the ancient buddhist sites of sarnath where lord buddha preached his first sermon finds a place on unescos tentative list singh suggested that the local administration should draft and ratify a manifesto committing itself to the conservation and protection of the city all built heritage assets must be documented through a survey listing mapping architectural plans of individual buildings a specific conservation plan must be drafted as an integral part of the development plan