Three government-owned heritage buildings in the French quarters are set for a facelift with the Puducherry government releasing funds for their restoration. Detailed proposals have been prepared and the cost for the restoration of the buildings is estimated to be ₹83.45 lakh, said an official in the Tourism Department.
The three buildings include the Tourism department building on Beach Road, the police headquarters building, and the National Rural Health Mission building (old secretariat). The work covers renovation of the structure and improvement of the facade. The work is expected to be completed in four months.
PUDUCHERRY, 11/05/2018: A view of the Police Headquarter Building, which will be taken up for restoration work in Puducherry, on May 11, 2018.Photo: S.S. Kumar
The foundation stone for restoration of the three structures was laid by Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao in the presence of MLA K. Lakshminarayanan recently.
The restoration work is a part of an ambitious plan to improve the urban infrastructure in the heritage area by converging it with the Smart City initiative. “Our main objective is to ensure that the heritage area of the city gets the Unesco World Heritage tag,” a senior official of the Tourism department said.
Among all the structures, work had begun on the Department of Tourism building on the Beach Road. The building was used as a Continental Villa for the VIPs during the French regime. A Grade III heritage building, it was located in the French precinct and dates back to the 19th century.
PUDUCHERRY, 11/05/2018: A view of the Directorate of Tourism Building, which will be taken up for restoration work in Puducherry, on May 11, 2018.Photo: S.S. Kumar
The Police Headquarters on Dumas Street has been identified for restoration in the first phase. A Grade II heritage structure, the office of the Police Headquarters was known in the name of ‘Naval Infantry Headquarters.’ In 1857, the building was used as barracks.
According to INTACH, “the building is relatively well maintained and the old pattern flooring still exists. The complex is the first of its kind in South Asia and is said to be the first French military building.” The NRHM building was built in 1909 and is a Grade II B heritage structure. From 1955, the building functioned as the Secretariat till 1983 and has been used by several government institutions.
In 1995, a study by the INTACH identified 1,807 buildings in the Boulevard as heritage structures. The number of buildings in the Tamil precinct, which was 888 in 2008, had come down to 266 in 2013. In the French precinct, the number of heritage structures had come down from 296 in 2008 to 220 in 2013.
