The sacred mountain landscape and heritage routes in Pithoragarh have been included in the tentative list of world heritage sites in India by UNESCO.
Expressing happiness at this development, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that if this area is acknowledged as world heritage by UNESCO, Uttarakhand will gain a special identity also in the sphere of tourism.
Rawat also said that when an area is developed as world heritage, it also helps such areas emerge as major centres of tourism and cultural heritage.
In this regard, the forest, tourism and culture departments will also help in taking this process further in coordination with the Wildlife Institute of India. Rawat directed that the culture department be made the nodal department for this purpose.
On Thursday, the CM held a meeting with the WII director Vinod B Mathur in this regard. Mathur informed him that the landscape in Pithoragarh area is culturally, ecologically and historically important.
Due to this, the chances of this landscape being included in the list of world heritage sites are strong. According to UNESCO, the sacred mountain landscape and heritage routes located in the Pithoragarh district cover an area of 6836 square kilometres. The Indian site is part of the larger landscape of 31000 square kilometres referred to as the Kailash sacred landscape constituting the Mount Kailash and Mansarovar lake in the south-western portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and adjacent districts in the far-western region of Nepal.
The property within the Indian territory comprises key sacred cultural sites, with ancient pilgrimage and trade routes, which leads to the spiritually and historically significant Kailash Mansoravar region.
Several ancient pilgrimage cum trade routes to Kailash Mansarovar pass through this landscape. In addition to the main pilgrimage routes and associated cultural heritage sites, there are many sites regarded as sacred, religious, or otherwise culturally significant, including lakes and mountains.
Mountains like the Adi Kailash which is a natural replica of the original Mount Kailash and Om Parvat which resembles the symbol of ‘Om’ represent significant features of geological formations that have sacred attributes.
Moreover, there are many festivals and fairs, with historic and cultural significance, held in this area throughout the year.
This unique area is significant not only as a religious-spiritual site, but is also host to high-altitude, transhimalayan ecosystems, habitats and biodiversity.
