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Restoring a crumbling heritage
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Declaration of Thripunithura as heritage zone will preserve its old world character, says K. PRADEEP
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RICH LEGACY The spirit of Thripunithura lies in its architecture Photo: H. VIBHU
After years of dilly-dallying and loss of precious heritage monuments there has been a clear verdict. Thripunithura has been notified as a heritage zone. This initiative will promote conservation of heritage buildings and the precincts through a coordinated approach involving local bodies and the Town Planning Department.
Thripunithura's spirit expresses itself in its architecture, quality of life, through a vibrant culture - all of which have acted as a magnet to visitors and new-settlers. The erstwhile capital of the Cochin Royalty, this town, elegantly historic, is fast turning to be daringly modern. Bearing a huge brunt of the burgeoning Kochi population, Thripunithura has been pulling down ancient structures to keep pace with the constant demand for space.
"A set of regulations in the form of a bill has already been drafted and approved. It is now with the Law Department. It is only a matter of time now for us to get the formal clearance. The rules will be implemented by the Art and Heritage Commission, which is empowered to list heritage structures, impose development control and initiate action against violation of rules," informs V. Manmadhan Nair, Director of Archaeology, who is a member of this commission.
Another part of this conservation strategy is the inclusion of a package of incentives to the owners of the buildings that fall within the heritage zone. One of the major incentives will be the subsidy on property tax for the listed buildings. "Buildings will be graded and those that fall under Grade 1 will enjoy total tax exemption, Grade 2 and 3 will get 50 and 25 per cent respectively. There will be no restriction on sale of the property or buildings. But we will insist that the buildings, if they are listed ones, cannot be demolished. They will, however, have the option of renovating it according to designs that gel with the whole area and buildings around. Owners will also be permitted to convert buildings or portions of it for commercial or institutional purposes if they agree to preserve and restore the structure," Mr. Nair says.
This time the Finance Commission expects something to the tune of Rs. 20 crore and this will be used to renovate heritage buildings and areas that need immediate attention. After thorough inspection 21 buildings within the fort area in Thripunithura were picked for renovation and conservation. Most of them were situated around the Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple. They are now owned by members of the Cochin Royal Family, some of them by the municipality, government and the Cochin Devaswom.
"Top priority will be given to the reconstruction of the Puthen Bungalow. It is under the Higher Education Department and like most of the PWD buildings has come to seed. The RLV College for Music and Fine Arts that will be shifted soon to its new premises will be put to adaptive reuse, making is functional but in accordance to the rules of the Heritage Bill," says Prof. N. Ramaswamy, architect and consultant of the commission.
There has been a lot of misunderstanding about the heritage zone among the people in Thripunithura, especially the members of the royal family. Apart from being worried that they may have to surrender possession rights to the government they were irked by the government's ineptitude in the protection of many a government-owned building in the area.
The authorities made earnest efforts to convince them that their fears were unfounded but it is unlikely that they have fully succeeded. "The government is not going to dispossess anyone from ownership rights. You have the Fort Kochi model before you. This will turn out into something like that. We are only concerned about looking after the history of the environment in the town, for you and the future generations," reiterated Mr. Nair.
It was only natural that there were misconceptions and doubts. "This happened because the preliminary list was prepared without any sort of consultation with the members of the royal family or those staying within this zone. Now that a 10-member committee has been formed with some of us as members we feel that there can be additions or omissions from this list. It is not that any of us are against preservation and conservation of our heritage. In fact, we are glad if some sort of aid can be given to maintain the properties under the VTK Trust, doubts are only regarding private holdings, especially those still not partitioned," feels S. Anujan, secretary of the Trust.
Whatever be the doubts, misconceptions, one thing is sure, this town, so traditional, forward-looking with a foot in the past, needs sincere efforts to make it one that is in harmony with itself.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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