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| Listed heritage bldg in Mysuru pulled down 2017 starofmysore.com |
Across the country cultural heritages are not getting due attention they deserve. Because of lack of action and prevalence of official apathy, heritage sites that remain neglected are facing several challenges with respect to their conservation, like poor periodic maintenance, aging, climate changes and pollution. Challenges identified as bottlenecks to proper and effective restoration and preservation of them are; poor funding by the government inadequate development and planning mechanism, enforcement of firm laws to punish the culprits who muddle with the sites, poor public participation in the restoration of historical sites. It is important that heritage sites represent the past history and culture of a nation.
As a result of total lack of interest for old buildings (more than 100 years old) and lethargic attitude of the government officials, further cushioned by ubiquitous retape, the heritage city of Mysuru lost yet another heritage building way back in 2017. But the trend continues with plausible solution and now a set of several buildings may be hitting the list of structures to be earmarked for destruction.
It is a paradox the building, one among more than 200 heritage sites listed by the Mysuru City Heritage Committee, was pulled down for good on the World heritage Day. The heritage building near the Dolphin Bakery on the Dewan's road earlier had housed the Manipal Finance Office for a long period. Not knowing the historical value of this privately owned building where Ramakrishna Ashram first functioned, it had fallen into disuse after Manipal Finance Office had vacated the premises. The structure started losing its sheen and was showing signs of aging with poor upkeep.
There are as many as 600 heritage buildings in city and in the fringe areas as per the sources in the Heritage Committee. There are six old buildings alone in the small stretch of Dewan’s Road from Sita Vilas Road to Krishna Vilas Road. The crux of the matter is many are privately owned and conservation of them is an uphill task for them, considering the costs and return on the investment. Among the hundreds of sites, the heritage committee had selected roughly 201 sites and are working on the guidelines, etc., to conserve and preserve them under the list of recognized heritage sites.
In November 2022 the District Heritage and Conservation Committee and the Deputy Commissioner (DC) not only jointly discussed the conservation of heritage structures but also the feasibility of creating a corpus fund for maintenance of heritage buildings in Mysuru. The proposal relied on seeking voluntary contribution towards the cost of maintaining any enlisted building or precinct. Apart, they agreed to approach corporate houses in Mysuru such as Infosys, Wipro, TVS, JK Tyres and NGOs like Namma Mysuru Foundation for their participation and maintenance of prominent Circles such as K.R.Circle, Hardinge Circle and Ayurveda College Circle. The participation of private players will relieve the strain the local government is facing because they can not cover every heritage site in Mysuru with limited allocation of funds. In the last two years a few heritage buildings were knocked down and among them was a heritage building near Ayurveda College Circle that housed Kerala Samajam. It was pulled down in 2017. In 2016 Irani bungalow, yet another heritage building named ‘Krupalaya’ in Nazarbad, was also razed to ground by a builder apparently for the primary purpose of constructing of modern commercial complex.
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The important link between historical buildings and cultural, social educational, economic and aesthetic legacies can not be ignored and much is dependent on the preservation of our heritage
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| Heritage bldg on Dewan's road, Mysuru.mymysore.wordpress.com |
Above image: According to some reports the owner was not interested in the preservation of the building as its land value had gone up several years ago. The building was not in use for some time because the previous tenant Manipal Finance Office (see the board in the image) conducted some fraudulent financial schemes and finally closed down the business for good without ever paying back its investors and leaving them in the lurch. Carrying the tag of Jinxed house, there was no tenant interested in taking the building on lease. This forced the owner to put the building for sale https://mymysore.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/old-mysore/
https://starofmysore.com/heritage-city-loses-another-heritage-building-world-heritage-day/
https://starofmysore.com/adopt-a-heritage-building-concept/
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