KMC looks at redoing heritage rules for better conservation
Times of India | 26 November 2024
123 Kolkata: KMC is introducing a new methodology for redefining the gradation of heritage buildings in the city. Describing the heritage sites and buildings as the ‘pehchan' (identity) of the city, Kolkata's mayor Firhad Hakim said, "We need the new methodology to protect and conserve heritage buildings better both legally and logically. There are buildings that should be on the city's graded list of heritage buildings, and some on the list don't deserve to be there.IPL 2025 mega auctionIPL Auction Live: CSK, RCB, MI apply finishing touches to their squadIPL Auction 2025: Who got whomIPL 2025 Auction: Updated Full Team SquadsThe new methodology will resolve this anachronism."
Organised by the Bengal Heritage Commission, on the last day of the World Heritage Week, the mayor said that there were 1,392 heritage buildings, out of which 717 are Grade I. "We have already put up blue plaques on 170 Grade I buildings, 80 more buildings are in the line. By introducing the new methodology, we are making it scientific by incorporating global best practices," he added.
The mayor regretted that despite efforts, the KMC could not save many important heritage structures, including Tripura House. He congratulated the KMC commissioner Dhaval Jain for his efforts to illuminate some of the greatest heritage buildings to create an amazing spectacle at night. "The city's heritage is remarkable as the heritage buildings have all the elements of Indian, Mughal, Persian, and British traditions of architecture, making them unique across the subcontinent."
"We faced legal issues in the court where the basis on which the heritage grade was assigned to the building was challenged. We thus closely examined the global best practices and practices prevalent in other cities in India for assigning grades to heritage buildings. There are three broader criteria like historical value, architectural significance, and ecological or environmental significance of these buildings. In the absence of a robust methodology, we have a long list of grade-pending buildings," said KMC commissioner and chairman of the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) Dhaval Jain while explaining the significance of the new methodology called multi-criteria decision making (MCDM).
In the MCDM methodology, historical and architectural aspects of the heritage building were accorded 40% weightage, while environmental aspects were given 20% weightage. "The robust methodology of MCDM includes a detailed surveyor manual to reduce quantitative grades like good, medium, and low. The MCDM method has been made robust by incorporating the missing sites, and inconsistent sites and proposed some financial incentives in the form of transfer of development rights (TDR) and other relaxation for better preservation and adaptive reuse of the heritage building for long-term sustainability," said Himadri Guha, member of the KMC HCC.
The survey would involve historians, conservation architects, social scientists, and environmentalists for an objective assessment, said Jain. The MCDM methodology will also include the economic benefits of such heritage buildings as repurposing and monetising heritage buildings are common in Europe, USA, Australia, the Far East, and even South Asian countries. It is thus important for the owner of the heritage buildings to reap the rich economic benefits after an adaptive reuse of the building.
Gradation of 300 heritage buildings is pending. The KMC plans to rope in IIEST, Shibpur to do the gradation work. According to a KMC heritage committee member, when the gradation work starts, the ancestral house of Siddhartha Shankar Ray at Beltola Road in Bhowanipore is likely to get a gradation among other buildings that have been accorded heritage status. "The KMC has in principle agreed to release Rs 1.5 crore for this crucial gradation work which has been pending for years, leading to attempts by vested interest groups to demolish some of the reputed heritage structures for the construction of housing projects," said a KMC heritage conservation department official.