Thaindian News

Shimla, Sep 27 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal launched an innovative scheme “Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai” or “Every House has its own History” on World Tourism Day Sunday to promote heritage tourism.
Under the scheme, the state tourism department has decided to compile a list of historical buildings in the hill capital. For this, it has asked the owners of historical buildings to provide lesser known facts about their building.

“We are requesting the owners of historical buildings to provide us details regarding the history and interesting facts about their building. The inputs provided by the residents would be reviewed and then published in the form of a book,” tourism director Arun Kumar told IANS.

He said the book would be an authenticated data on the historical monuments of the erstwhile summer capital of British India.

“A large number of buildings - both residential and official - were constructed in Shimla during the British era. While some of them have been demolished, others have been damaged with passage of time. Still a large number of historical landmarks are there and each one of these has some interesting history,” he said.

The Queen of Hills, as Shimla was fondly called by the British, has 91 British-era heritage buildings. These include Ellerslie (housing the state secretariat), Vidhan Sabha, Peterhoff (which was completely renovated after being devastated in a fire nearly two decades ago and now serves as the state guest house), United Services Club, Town Hall, Barnes Court (housing Raj Bhavan), Viceregal Lodge (now houses premier advanced research institution the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies) and Gordon Castle.

For preserving the rich cultural and imperial heritage, the state government has sought special funds from the Asian Development Bank.