Jaipur:
Soon after her return from France on Wednesday mayor Jyoti Khandelwal lost no time in blaming her predecessor for causing her much embarrassment in the foreign land and criticised BJP's ineptness to conserve heritage in Jaipur.
In France, Khandelwal was left red-faced as Unesco expressed its displeasure with the lack of efforts made by the development body to preserve the city's inheritance.
"We felt ashamed when UNESCO questioned and rebuked us for failure of MoU, which was signed between the then city mayor Ashok Parnami and France's mayor, to conserve heritage in Jaipur. This MoU was signed three years ago," Khandelwal said, losing no time in training her guns towards the BJP-led corporation and government.
"It is not our fault, but theirs [BJP's]. They have not executed the MoU and we were targeted during trip," the mayor said, when questioned about the utility of such visits.
However, Parnami has denied any such failure. "The MoU was never executed because the local body elections were scheduled to be held in France and then we had our elections. That's why the MoU was postponed," he clarified.
Although Khandelwal has avoided signing any such MoUs this time, she has come back inspired by how French take pride in their heritage. "The French have civic sense. They treat public property like their own and conserve them. That's why they have renovated old buildings into libraries and aquariums," said she.
However, she was puzzled over implementation of such initiatives in the Pink City. "Such efforts might be implemented to make Jaipur better in future," she said.
However, when questioned about the buildings which need immediate attention of the heritage brigade, Khandelwal found herself fumbling for words.
She suggested a tram in the Walled City, which is again quite impractical, considering the congestion, and wasteful as the government has already introduced the Metro.
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