‘My City My Heritage’ campaign to promote local heritage and culture

InterGlobe Foundation and IndiGoReach to commence a series of heritage walks in five cities

InterGlobe Foundation (IGF), the philanthropic arm of InterGlobe Enterprises, and IndiGoReach, the CSR arm of IndiGo, have announced the ‘My City My Heritage’ campaign on Wednesday to raise awareness about the value and importance of heritage and culture in India.

As part of the ‘My City My Heritage’ campaign, heritage walks will be organised across Prayagraj, Bhubaneswar, Nashik, Hyderabad, and Indore over the next few months. This is in line with their vision to raise awareness and preserve and promote India’s tangible and intangible heritage in various cities. These walks also aim to set the tone for conversations and partnerships around the preservation of built heritage and to instil a sense of pride among the communities living in the vicinity of these monuments and the travellers visiting these cities.

The campaign commenced with a panel discussion at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi, with G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, IAS – Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Managing Director (ITDC) as the Chief Guest and keynote speaker, along with other eminent personalities such as Amita Baig, Executive Director, World Monuments Fund India; Sanjoy Roy, Managing Director, Teamwork Arts; Aman Nath, Founder and Chairman of Neemrana Hotels; Dipak Deva, Managing Director, Travel Corporation of India; and Junhi Han, Progarmme Specialist and Chief of Section – Culture at UNESCO. The campaign, which is focussed on rediscovering the culture and heritage potential of Indian cities, will be further sustained through a series of heritage walks, to be held in five cities, starting December 2022.

At the event, the audience was inspired by the distinguished panel’s views on the significance of heritage conservation. The panel discussed how promoting and preserving heritage not only gives people who live in historic districts a sense of identity, but also fulfils our duty to pass on India’s rich heritage to the next generation. Another key topic discussed was how to harness and activate meaningful partnerships across sectors to strengthen both tangible and intangible heritage. The panelists, drawn from diverse fields, delved into their experiences, and shared how public-private partnerships between businesses, civil society, and the government can collaborate to create an environment where both heritage conservation and tourism can thrive, as well as generate livelihoods for the communities.

The ‘My City My Heritage’ campaign draws on material previously developed by InterGlobe Foundation in partnership with Sahapedia as part of a project to explore, document, and spread the diverse heritage and cultural aspects of ten Indian cities: Prayagraj, Indore, Nashik, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, and Shillong. More than two hundred cultural points of interest were identified as part of this project, and the material developed, including cultural mapping articles, self-guided trails, listicles, museum mapping, cultural calendars, photography, etc., has been captured in the form of city booklets, which are now available to the public in both print and digital formats.

Rohini Bhatia, Chairperson, InterGlobe Foundation, said, “A concerted effort to preserve our heritage is an important link to our cultural, educational, and aesthetic legacies. Our goal with the ‘My City My Heritage’ campaign is to raise awareness and motivate people to preserve, protect, and promote our cultural roots. We hope to encourage greater participation in the preservation of our built and cultural heritage, which reflects our rich past and links us to our future. The promotion of local art and culture through heritage preservation is closely linked to tourism as well as to the social well-being of the community at large. InterGlobe Foundation is committed to its vision of building pride in communities through providing sustainable livelihoods, conserving the environment, and preserving the heritage and culture of our country.”

Pieter Elbers, CEO IndiGo said, “A country so rich in culture and heritage, India has some of the most extraordinary ancient monuments of cultural and historical significance. It is imperative we conserve the architectural wonders by inculcating awareness and pride among people so that these treasures are available for generations to come. IndiGoReach, partnering with InterGlobe Foundation, takes pride in the collective goal of preserving the heritage and culture through ‘My City My Heritage’ campaign. We will continue to demonstrate our commitment to being responsible and contributing back to the community we serve while enhancing the accessibility to these architectural marvels through our unparalleled route-network in India, connecting people and places.”

Both, InterGlobe Foundation and IndiGoReach have individually taken forward various projects for promoting heritage conservation and preservation in India. Some of the major projects of InterGlobe Foundation include, the conservation and cultural revival of Abdur Rahim Khan-I-Khanan’s mausoleum in Delhi, the cultural mapping and documentation of ten cities, and the restoration of the stepwell ‘Indra Kund’ in Delwara, Rajasthan. IndiGoReach also undertook projects for the Conservation of Muhammed Qutb Shah’s Mausoleum at the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park in Hyderabad and the restoration of the interiors of the Lal Bagh Palace in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

InterGlobe Foundation recently has also launched the InterGlobe HERITAGE Fellowships to engage a cross-section of the public in documenting and researching the cultural heritage of India and help increase its awareness. (PRNewswire)