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Journalism of Courage
The dilution of Mumbai’s heritage in the draft Development Plan of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) could have been precluded had the state government notified the revised heritage regulations, submitted by two consecutive heritage panels, for incentivising protection of all such structures and sites in the city.
The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), under its former chairman DK Afzalpurkar, had proposed a complete overhaul of the section in the Development Control Rules (DCR) that deals with heritage protection. Accordingly, in July 2011, the existing five-page provision in the DCR was fleshed out into 30-odd pages of model heritage regulations, in consultation with then BMC Commissioner Subodh Kumar, and sent to the state Urban Development Department to be notified. The existing MHCC led by V Ranganathan also made a representation on the issue exactly two years ago, on April 1, 2013.
The model regulations redefined and strengthened the provisions for Mumbai’s grade I, II and III heritage structures and precincts with an emphatic stress on the phrase “what posterity would not willingly let die”. It proposed a slew of measures, including a 50 per cent rebate in property tax, allowing partial use of such premises for offices or restaurants, grant of transfer of development rights, each of these being conditional on the fact that the owner maintains the structure intact.
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“When MHCC followed up on the delay in enforcing the proposed regulations, the state government replied that there was no need to notify our proposal since it would be incorporated by BMC in its DCR that was under preparation back then as part of its work on the draft Development Plan 2014-34,” said a heritage panel member.
The recently released DCR, however, has not only disregarded all the comprehensive revisions proposed by MHCC, it went a step further and included provisions in the DCR that weakened heritage conservation further. “The model regulations that our committee had submitted has not been incorporated in the DP. We will be taking up this issue with BMC while writing to them on the issue of the DP,” said Ranganathan.
The model regulations had also proposed creation of a heritage fund, which will be raised by levying additional charges on all building construction projects in Mumbai, a provision missing in the draft DP. This fee will be equal to 25 per cent of the development charges taken by the civic body and the sum is to be credited to a trust that will be managed by BMC commissioner.
It had introduced clauses to safeguard the character of precincts such as Khotachiwadi and Mhatarpakhadi by mandating that internal roads could not be opened up for vehicular traffic and that the average height and roof typology of the area be maintained. Instead, BMC’s draft DP has allowed for unrestricted redevelopment of both precincts and grade III structures. In case of grade-I structures that are of great national and historic importance, the new rules go to the extent of stating that “development permissions for changes would be given by planning authority”.
“Heritage is asset, but it has been treated as a liability, which will lead to irreparable losses. There is no mention of incentives to the owners or tenants who maintain, repair or restore their structure. Instead, the high FSI offered in the DP makes it more lucrative for owners to pull down the structure and reconstruct it,” said MHCC member and conservation architect Vikas Dilaware.
shalini.nair@expressindia.com
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