Gokhale Hall on Chennai’s Armenian Street is one of the heritage structures in the city that are in a state of neglect and require measures to conserve them. | Photo Credit: The Hindu
Tamil Nadu boasts of a deep-rooted heritage culture. While the State government had initiated measures to protect its rich historical tapestry a few decades ago, urban planners and heritage enthusiasts point out the challenges in balancing the rapid urbanisation changing the face of the State and heritage preservation.
The Madras High Court’s recent intervention to enforce the Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission Act of 2012 (amended in 2017) has brought to the fore the need to make comprehensive heritage management a ground reality. The Court has now directed the government to constitute the commission that would act as an advisory body to the government on the preservation of heritage structures in the State.
To safeguard structures
With no Act in place and no commission remaining on paper, some of the famous heritage structures were demolished or replaced.
The issue of the constitution of a commission came into the limelight when the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage took the matter to court.
The need for a commission was stressed to safeguard structures outside the purview of the Archaeological Survey of India Act.
The State government had already formed a Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and had even documented some of the heritage sites listed in the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee report along with heritage experts and architects.
In 2010, the Madras High Court directed the HCC to recommend to the State government to notify such historic structures and issue cause notices to private building owners. However, the HCC is restricted to Chennai.
It was after the iconic Kalas Mahal in Chepauk complex, Chennai, was ravaged in a fire accident some years ago that concerted conservation efforts of the Public Works Department (PWD) picked up pace. Building Centre and Conservation Division, a dedicated wing for heritage restoration was created in 2017. With subdivisions in various places, the wing has been raising 81 dilapidated historic structures across the State from the rubble since then. The government recently sanctioned ₹50 crore towards restoring renowned structures for the current fiscal.
The PWD’s team of conservation engineers is compiling a list of old buildings in the State and chalking out plans to breathe fresh life into them with the assistance of conservation architects and sthapathi (traditional architects).
But constituting a heritage commission and framing statutory rules would go a long way in protecting buildings that are in disuse and in dire need of conservation across Tamil Nadu and also hold owners of private heritage property owners accountable for heritage revival. While some aspects of the West Bengal Heritage Commission Act, 2001 are said to have been incorporated in the Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission Act, comprehensive laws providing legal framework in other States such as West Bengal and Telangana show the path for sustainable heritage conservation.
There is more groundwork involved in compiling exhaustive and integrated data for built heritage in Tamil Nadu. The statutory rules for the State should also consolidate provisions of Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules 2019. Heritage planning experts recommend the provision of incentives to private structures like the transfer of development rights certificates beforehand rather than after preservation efforts.
While the PWD is confident that the State Heritage Commission would help fine tune its work, the act must be enforced with technical and financial support as well as with experts drawn from various quarters. In the absence of a strong delegation to protect the State’s wealth of heritage, the commission faces the risk that it might turn into a non-functional entity.
