4 UT heritage chairs sold for Rs 9.67L in US

A set of four heritage chairs from the city were auctioned for Rs 9.67 lakh in the US on January 9.

Ajay Jagga, a member of the Heritage Items Protection Cell of the Chandigarh Administration, said the artefacts belonged to student residences of Panjab University. He said the auction was conducted by Wright, an auction house of US.

In a letter to Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, Jagga stated that in response to his earlier representations, the Ministry of Culture took action and asked the agencies concerned to look into the matter and take some action. However, the MEA is yet to take cognisance of this matter.

Articles of the city heritage are being auctioned regularly in foreign countries without any resistance from the Government of India, he added.

He requested that the Indian Embassies in foreign countries must be sensitised about our heritage, so that they can, at least, raise objection, which may sustain or not, to save the heritage.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has prohibited the sale, export and shifting of furniture items of Chandigarh. How these reached foreign countries is a matter of investigation.