Kalpathy heritage village on bad days
The structure was built many years ago and are in urgent need of repair
Update: 2014-11-16 05:34 GMT
THRISSUR: Though Kalpathy was tagged as the first heritage village in the State, life has become a misery for those living there. Though the district administration had clamped restrictions on repairs and alterations of houses in the Kalpathy Agraharam to protect its heritage value, most of the structures were built many years ago and are in urgent need of repair.
According to regulatory guidelines as per heritage village status , “no development, redevelopment, construction including additions, alterations, repairs, renovations, replacement of special and architectural features, demolition of any part or whole thereof in respect of any object or buildings in the area should be allowed except with the prior written recommendation of the Art and Heritage Commission constituted by the Government under Rule 154 of the Kerala Municipality Building Rule, 1999, in order to conserve the heritage character of the Kalpathy area and its environment.”
Unfortunately, the Palakkad municipality is holding up the applications of the residents citing the reason that permission from the Art Heritage Commission in Thiruvananthapuram is essential before giving the green signal. When contacted, Manjalamkuzhi Ali, Minister for Town Planning said that he would convene a meeting of the Art and Heritage Committee on November 20 to discuss the issue.
“As many as 13 applications from Kalpathy are waiting for clearance. It took two years to gain sanction for any construction or repair in Kalpathy. I am trying is to clear the applications in two months”, he said.The tiled houses and wooden structures are costly and difficult to maintain and most residents prefer to change their structures into modern ones. But this is not being allowed as Kalpathy is a heritage area.