Chennai was the first city housing various civic aspects that had strengthened the cultural and architectural heritage of the entire country. Even as the State government had taken initiatives to conserve its heritage, urban planners continued to find the task of balancing urban development with heritage conservation challenging.
The Heritage Conservation Committee of the Chennai Metropolitan Area has held 30 meetings to decide on developing at least 300 heritage proposals in the past seven years of its existence. “At least 20 planning permission applications have been cleared only after the developer made changes to conserve heritage. In addition to 164 buildings documented, another 100 buildings will be included shortly. The documentation of all heritage buildings will be completed next year,” an official of the CMDA said.
But historians and heritage activists have insisted on the need for better initiatives to preserve the city’s heritage buildings.
Historian V. Sriram said the restoration of just two heritage buildings, National Art Gallery and Chepauk Palace had been initiated by the State government.
“Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was instrumental in the restoration project,” he said pointing to the gradual loss of city’s heritage buildings.
Heritage fault
“Bosotto building, a heritage premises, at the junction of Blackers Road and Anna Salai is being demolished. How did they allow the Bible Society to be demolished? The Heritage Conservation Committee is a failure,” Mr. Sriram said.
Disaster management expert N. Mathavan, who had developed the city’s resilience index, said the government should fund restoration of heritage buildings to prevent large scale disasters in the city. “Many heritage buildings are dilapidated. Private owners do not get any revenue from many heritage buildings. So they are not maintained properly. The buildings need retrofitting to prevent disaster in the neighbourhood. Many foreign countries have funded the retrofitting of heritage buildings,” Mr. Mathavan said.
Work on infrastructure development such as Metro rail near Ripon Buildings had caused damage to the heritage building. The heritage building was developing cracks. But the Metrorail was yet to share information on the building’s condition to the Chennai Corporation.
Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority has proposed a ₹400-crore project to develop Chennai Central Square near Ripon Buildings and Central Railway Station. The original proposal was to develop public spaces and improve the aesthetics of the heritage buildings in the area. But the new proposal by the Metro rail to develop two multi storied office buildings in the Chennai Central Square was expected to affect the aesthetics and heritage value.
Delay in framing rules
The Heritage Conservation Committee had played a role in restoring heritage buildings such as Vivekanandar Illam in Triplicane and Vallalar Illam in George Town.
Some of the proposals to redevelop heritage premises such as CSI St. Thomas English Church have been made. The Heritage Conservation Committee would take a decision shortly. The delay in framing rules for the Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission Act, 2012 had also affected heritage conservation for the past few years. The absence of provisions for funding of retrofitting or restoration of heritage buildings had also led to a rise in challenges to the conservation of many heritage premises.
