300 heritage structures get to continue redevelopment

“We cannot halt development processes if things are not finalised. Redevelopment projects will continue as we have no basis to halt this while the list is still in the draft stage,” Kunte told Newsline on Sunday. At the BMC’s general body meeting on Saturday,he had said that BMC will officially release the list next year to the state government’s Urban Development Department.

Kunte has,however,decided to order a departmental probe into the newly-published heritage list after allegations of discrepancies cropped up at BMC’s general body meeting on Saturday. At the meeting,Shiv Sena corporator and standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale alleged that the revised list of graded structures differs significantly from the original list submitted to the Municipal Commissioner in 2009.

“In the original list,Shivaji Park is a Grade II(A) structure and the area around it has been categorised as Grade III. However,in this list,both the park and the surrounding area is shown as Grade I. Like this,there are many changes that have been made to the heritage list. The Development Plan department in nexus with some builders has done this without authority,” Shewale alleged,demanding a CID probe.

“There is a need to probe the current list. While the earlier list was known to be more detailed,the current one seems more cursory,” said Pankaj Joshi,Executive Director,Urban Design Research Institute and member of the previous heritage committee. He said though the proposed list is not notified by the government yet,the force of law still applies to it.

“One needs to ensure that the heritage movement in this whole process is not lost. Whenever a redevelopment proposal for any of the structures in the list is received,the commissioner ideally has the the right to reject or approve it,” he said. Alternatively,the proposal can also be sent to the heritage committee for remarks,although the structure is yet not notified as heritage property.

Kunte said the civic body will hold an inquiry into the matter. “We will check to see if there is really a discrepancy in the list. To my knowledge,items on the list such as Gilbert Hill have been deleted because officials in the Development Plan department say that it was already listed previously. So we will have to check the claims,” Kunte said.

In 2007,when the BMC’s Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) first formulated the list based on the recommendations of the MMR Heritage Conservation Society,at least 1,200 structures were enumerated. The then MHCC under the chairmanship of Sharad Upasani,along with officials from the Development Plan,revised the list pruning it to 948 proposed structures.

Kunte also ruled out an extension to the September 30 deadline for inviting suggestions from public on the list. After the deadline expires,the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee will deliberate over the responses. “We will then hold public hearings on these from December to April after which the BMC will finalise the list and submit it to the State Urban Development Department in July next year,” said Kunte.

As the process of deliberation continues,the security of presently graded structures remains uncertain. “We will submit the suggestions made by the people and the corporators to the state government. The government will take its decision to merit grades accordingly. The structures in the present list were graded based on the the MMR Heritage Conservation Society’s recommendations. It may be noted that this expert committee graded the structures studying their historical,social,and political value,” he said.