8 Chandigarh heritage items sold for Rs 58L abroad

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 4

In yet another auction of heritage items from the city, eight artifacts designed by Pierre Jeanneret were sold for Rs58.39 lakh in auctions held in Luxembourg and France recently.

Ajay Jagga, member, Heritage Protection Cell, Chandigarh, said in an auction held in Luxembourg on May 30, an easy table, an easy armchair, senate committee chairs and an office cane chair were sold for Rs34.51 lakh.

Similarly, easy arm chairs, two sets of easy chairs and take down chairs were sold for Rs23.88 lakh in an auction held at Fontainebleau in France on May 29. In a letter to Minister for External Affairs S Jayashankar, Jagga said the auctions were held in violation of the Ministry of Home Affairs orders, dated February 22, 2011. “In view of the continuous auction of our heritage in foreign countries, without any resistance from India, there is a need to get the matter examined from law-enforcing agencies of Paris find out how these items reached there,” he said. “With these two auctions, their number has gone up to nine in 2021,” he added.