SURAT: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) had announced two years ago on World Heritage Day
a heritage policy and also took a vow to protect the heritage buildings
in the city for which it set up a heritage cell. Under the heritage
policy, 2,417 properties in old city and 574 in old Gamtal of Rander,
which were 80-year-old or more, were identified to be in the need of
conservation. However, so far no work for their conservation has been
taken up.

“These properties were identified through a survey.
However, the conservation work on these properties is yet to begin. The
SMC’s lack of expertise on the subject of conservation has delayed the
process,” said Bhamini Mahida, chief curator, Science Centre, SMC.

SMC made a provision for the recruitment of empanelled architect and conservation architect
on permanent basis in its heritage cell along with urban planners and
town planning experts. The posts were advertised four times in the last
one year at the national level. But no suitable candidates for the posts of empanelled architect and conservation architect were found.

An empanelled architect and a conservation architect would have
suggested the guidelines for the protection and conservation of heritage
structures in the city.

“Another problem is people living in
the heritage structures. Over 60 per cent of the protected heritage
properties are occupied by people. Unless SMC takes over their
possession and starts conservation measures, we can’t bracket them as
heritage monuments,” Mahida added.

However, not all is lost on
the conservation front. The city’s pilot project of Chowk Bazaar
Heritage Square is on the march. “By the middle
of the year, Chowk Bazaar Heritage Square’s work would reach its final
stage. If need be, we would take Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ( AMC) and state government’s help for our conservation projects,” municipal commissioner Manoj Das said.

“Heritage preservation is a specialized field. Hence, we are a bit cautious,” said CY Bhatt, Deputy Commissioner, SMC.