New Delhi: Jaipur may lose its World Heritage status, which UNESCO conferred to the ‘Pink City’ in 2019. Since then, the UN agency has twice raised concerns—in 2023 and 2025—following reports of demolition and illegal construction in areas close to the heritage spaces.
Jaipur has until December 2026 to make the required changes to retain the tag.
“It is too preliminary to mention that Jaipur will lose its UNESCO heritage tag. Jaipur City does have a long list of commitments to complete certain tasks and to submit the State of Conservation Report by Dec 2026. In case the report is not satisfactory, they may get a Reactive Monitoring Mission in future. Based on the recommendations of such a mission, it will be monitored closely on its performance,” said Dr Shikha Jain, an expert on world heritage.
Reactive monitoring is defined as ‘the reporting by the World Heritage Centre, other sectors of UNESCO and the advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of specific properties that are under threat’.
“If it fails to do so, it has chances of going into the ‘Danger’ list. A property gets reviewed every year for its performance when it’s on the danger list. Based on its performance, it can get delisted in the long term,” added Jain.
Only 3 sites got delisted
UNESCO has now given local authorities of Jaipur until the end of the year to show they are doing enough to preserve the World Heritage tag. In 1991, Jaipur had around 1,200 havelis, a number that has now been reduced to 800.
To date, only three sites have been delisted globally—England’s Liverpool, Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley and Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary.
In India, Hampi in Karnataka and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, which are also World Heritage sites, have had visits from reactive monitoring missions to assess potential threats. For Hampi, the measure was undertaken in 2000. Other sites like Maharashtra’s Ajanta and Ellora Caves, and the Manas National Park have also had reactive monitoring missions conducted by UNESCO.
In 2025, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) flagged the Kalupur Railway precinct redevelopment in the buffer zone, and the other is the Danapith Fire Station redevelopment within the core heritage area as threats. The state government also responded to these concerns.
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‘Concerns over encroachments’
The government of Rajasthan has submitted a state of conservation report, which the UN agency took into consideration in its 2025 report.
“Jaipur has multiple ongoing projects to encourage heritage tourism at places like Amer Fort and Jal Mahal, alongside efforts to develop nature trails in the area. However, there are genuine concerns about the city losing its UNESCO tag due to encroachments and unregulated constructions in notified areas. A collective effort by stakeholders and authorities will be instrumental in preserving this prestigious status,” said Mayank Singh, a conservator who has worked on a thesis about the City Palace of Jaipur.
The 2025 UNESCO report made a note of the state government prioritising to finalise the Special Area Heritage Plan under the Jaipur Masterplan 2025. It also mentions four ongoing projects—redevelopment of Kishanpole College, extension of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, conservation of Baoris or stepwells, and the Jaipur Metro Rail with stations outside Badi Chaupar to Transport Nagar.
UNESCO, however, might request the state government to submit the plan to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies and ask to prioritise the plan’s implementation upon completion with a detailed timeline and implementation strategy, including progress benchmarks.
An updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of decisions adopted by the committee in 2025 will have to be sent for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 49th session. It will be held in 2027.