The Times of India         26.11.2013

SMC waiting for conservation architects

SURAT: The civic body of Surat formulated a heritage policy as early as 2010. It identified 2,297 buildings from the old city and Rander area as heritage structures that needed to be preserved.

However after the heritage cell was formed and a heritage committee constituted, no progress was made. The reason: the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is not able to fill two posts of conservation architects.

"Despite repeated attempts we have not been able to get the right people." said Bhamini Mahida, the curator of the Science Center.

The other reason for the lack of progress seems to be the private ownership of heritage properties. Nearly 98% of identified heritage structures are owned by private parties and there is no fund for conservation and preservation of these structures as they are not identified as heritage structures by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The ASI has identified only four heritage sites in Surat city: Khawaja Dana Saheb's Roza, Old English Tombs, Tomb of Khawaja Safar Sulemani, and Old Dutch and Armenian Tombs and Cemeteries.

"We have a huge collection of built heritage of 17th and 18th centuries amid us," said C Y Bhatt, deputy commissioner, SMC in charge of the heritage cell. "But unless experts show us the way to protect and preserve them we would not be able to do the job ourselves."

The SMC has asked people to approach it for proper conservation and preservation protocols but very few are ready to seek help as they feel their property would be taken over by the civic body.

"We have only one ancestral house in Gopipura," said 74-year-old Ravishankar Mamarawala. "I have three sons. I plan to sell the old house so that my sons can buy flats. If the SMC takes over my ancestral property, what will my sons do?"