Chandigarh Administration is preparing to patent the designs of all heritage furniture in the city. For this, the proposal is being prepared on the orders of Manoj Parida, advisor to the chairman and administrator of the Heritage Protection Cell. The numbering and video recording of all the heritage items will also be done. A committee has been formed for this purpose.
Manoj Parida, adviser to the Administrator, said that Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret or his family should have patented the design of the items they made. Now, the administration is working on it.
With this patent, no one will be able to make furniture that looks like heritage furniture and if someone wants to make it, then that person will have to pay royalty. This move will protect the heritage furniture to some extent and reduce the chances of it being smuggled.
Heritage Protection Cell member Ajay Jagga said that the city’s heritage furniture has been auctioned in millions abroad for many years. All this furniture belongs to Panjab University, UT Secretariat, Punjab and Haryana High Court and various schools and colleges. The buyers are willing to pay any amount for it and due to this, smuggling has increased.
The administration is not sure about the accurate number of heritage items in the city. For this, Manoj Parida has constituted a committee of officials which is engaged in the work of digitalising the records of all the heritage furniture. Parida said that this committee will identify and number all the heritage items of the city and will also make a video recording of it. All the information will be kept digitally secure so that smuggling can be completely stopped.
