UNESCO calls out misleading story by Indian Express on heritage tag of Darjeeling toy train

In a major setback to the Indian Express, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has slammed the leading daily over a misleading story which states that the heritage tag of Darjeeling’s toy train is under threat. The story which was published on July 14 claimed, “India’s continuing failure to conserve the 140-year-old Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), a World Heritage Site, has prompted UNESCO to take steps to assess the state of the railway system and see whether the property is worth the global heritage tag.”

The story also stated, “Not satisfied with the information the Indian Railways has been furnishing about the state of conservation of the World Heritage Site, UNESCO will send its Reactive Monitoring Mission, comprising experts from UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee and the International Council on Monuments and Sites, to Darjeeling to ascertain the condition of the property jointly with the Indian Railways. It will identify priorities for action and report on these while also formulating a set of recommendations for the Railways aimed at preventing further erosion of the property’s ‘Outstanding Universal Value’, according to draft minutes of UNESCO’s annual meeting last week in Azerbaijan.” The Indian Express story also added that Reactive Monitoring teams are sent when a World Heritage site is in danger and “may require to be removed from the prestigious global list.”

However, the UNESCO has now clarified the correct position which implies that the story published by the Indian Express was misleading. In a statement issued by the UNESCO, it has been stated, “While the essence of the article written by Avishek G Dastidar is accurately based on the official and public documents of the World Heritage Committee, the headline is unfortunately stating as fact an element which must first and foremost be confirmed by the Government of India. Your presentation is therefore misleading.” The clarification by the world body also makes it clear that state parties (which is, India in case of Darjeeling toy train) have been requested by UNESCO to extend an invitation to the Reactive Monitoring Mission so that such teams can assist the local government in taking appropriate measures for conservation of the heritage sites. The statement by UNESCO which has been addressed to the Indian Express Corporate Office, then adds, “You may think of this formulation as diplomatic niceties, but it makes for an importance distinction.”

The statement further adds, “For its part, our UNESCO team in New Delhi have supported extensively Indian Railways over the last couple of years and I wish Mr. Dastidar had contacted us. We make ourselves readily available to the news media and this would have helped put more perspective on your article.” The statement also makes it clear that while it is incontrovertible that there are threats to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), the world body hopes that with goodwill measures, it will be able to keep the railway on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. It is clear that the Reactive Monitoring Mission will not be sent with any pre-conceived notion against the DHR.

This statement exposes the false tenor and idea of the Indian Express story on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The fact remains that the Reactive Monitoring Team is being sent to India with the express purpose of preservation of the heritage site and not in order to remove it. In fact, the Reactive Monitoring Team can be sent only if the Government of India extends an invitation. This is so because the end purpose of the entire exercise is not removing the site from the heritage list but to work closely in order to take appropriate steps in order to tackle the threats that the site is facing.