Kalka-Shimla railway may be included in World Heritage List

New York, June 21 (PTI) The Kalka-Shimla Railway and
River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra river in
Assam are among 47 sites worldwide which the United Nations
will consider for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
The Committee of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will hold a
9-day meeting in Quebec in Canada from July 2 to consider the
nominations which include 13 natural sites and 34 cultural
sites, including two that cross national boundaries.
The nominating countries include five states that have no
sites inscribed on the World Heritage List: Kyrgyzstan, Papua
New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu.
UNESCO said the committee would also scrutinise the state
of conservation of 30 sites that have been placed on the List
of World Heritage in danger because of problems such as
pollution, pillaging, the impact of natural disasters or
poorly managed mass tourism.
Those sites include the cultural landscape of the Dresden
Elbe Valley in Germany, which may be deleted from the World
Heritage List if the 21-member committee determines that the
building of a bridge in the heart of the landscape warrants
the move.
Currently there are 851 sites of "outstanding universal
value" in 141 countries that have been inscribed on the World
Heritage List, and each year sites are added after
applications are first reviewed by either the International
Council on Monuments and Sites or the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.