Heritage act is an idea whose time has come

CHENNAI: The Madras Week celebrations are not all about romancing the city that Madras was, and patronising its culture. This week, historians and ardent Chennaiites have embarked on a mission to do more than revel in its past: to secure the city’s buildings of yore.The Madras Week events in the city this week will also include a plea to the Chief Minister to quickly enact legislation to protect the state’s heritage buildings. All members participating in the discussions are asked to sign in the signature campaign demanding the legislation. The Heritage Act, the historians expect, should tighten its noose over the maintenance of heritage buildings, apart from evolving a mechanism by which the building’s owner can benefit from it, if he wishes to, but by not affecting the historic structure.“Following a Madras High Court directive last year, the state had formed a Heritage Conservation Committee to ensure that heritage buildings of the ancient city were well-conserved,” says V Sriram, historian. But, the committee has spent all its energies towards sending out letters to the owners of 400 heritage buildings, ordering them not to bring about any changes or bring down the building. “But the owner has every right to benefit from his property, which is what we hope the legislation can entitle him to, while preserving the building,” he says. Even the list of 400-plus heritage structures is not comprehensive, he says. “These are the buildings that were identified for the purpose of a HC case about hoardings in front of ancient buildings. There are many more buildings in the city’s confines that were not included as there was no hoarding in front of them,” he says.For example, the old Triplicane Post Office on Triplicane High Road, or the Bhajanai Manthiram on Mint Street are historically significant buildings that are not in the list. “A serious enumeration of buildings that deserve the heritage tag has to be undertaken,” he said. Even in the case of buildings declared as heritage structures, nobody prevented their deterioration, he says. Three buildings - the Cooum House, the Government House and Gandhi Illam - listed as heritage buildings, were pulled down for the new Legislative Assembly. This is also because the panel comprises 90 per cent government staff, he notes.Historians now see an urgent need to enact this legislation. “The proposed Metro Rail project, especially the Mount Road stretch, can greatly impact the old buildings. Even if it does not require their demolition, continuous vibrations from the trains can affect the sites in the long run. This will affect buildings like Higginbothams, Amalgamations and Poompuhar,” Sriram adds.