The Hindu 22.08.2013
Heritage list: 65 building owners object
As many as 65 owners of buildings have objected to the
inclusion of their premises on a list of heritage buildings in the
Chennai metropolitan area.
The Heritage Conservation
Committee (HCC) on Wednesday however, overruled their objections and
decided to go ahead and include them anyway.
So far, the HCC has compiled two lists of 110 heritage buildings in the city that need to be conserved.
Next
week, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will clear
the first list, which has 67 buildings. While a major chunk of these
structures are government buildings, there are a few private ones too.
Twenty
of the buildings on this list, including the Madras High Court, Madras
Club (Mowbray’s Cupola), College of Engineering Guindy, Dandeeswarar
Temple, Royapuram Railway Station, Armenian Church and SBI on Rajaji
Salai are classified as Grade I heritage buildings.
Grade
I structures will be prime landmarks upon which no alterations will be
permitted. The 65 owners have objected primarily because of this – the
fear that making any alterations to their buildings will become a
challenging process once their structures are on the list.
Once
a building is notified as a heritage structure, the onus of repair and
maintenance — often expensive tasks — will be on the property owner.
The owners will also have to preserve their buildings and will be forbidden from demolishing them.
A repair fund, as proposed earlier, for the maintenance of such buildings has not yet been created.
Once
the first list, along with its recommendations and recorded objections,
is approved of by the CMDA, the State government will notify it.
The
HCC’s second list consists of 43 additional heritage buildings. The
owners of these buildings too, will be given an opportunity to raise
objections, following which the HCC will take a decision on their
inclusion in the list.
On Wednesday, the HCC
permitted a Grade II heritage building, St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher
Secondary School to construct an auditorium on its premises.
The committee has also decided to inspect Central Station and its environs next week to clear the proposal for a skywalk.
