Heritage buildings in “Pondy”, which attract tourists from all around the world, are disappearing. A recent survey report shows that of the 1,807 heritage buildings listed in 1995, only 442 were still standing in 2015. The decline has brought the spotlight back on the absence of stringent rules and poor conservation.
The decline is most visible in structures dominated by Tamil architecture. “It is mainly because commercial activities are happening more in the Tamil quarter.
Also division of traditional property among heirs by private owners is also the main reason for buildings simply disappearing,” says Ashoke Pandey, co-convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Puducherry chapter.
“My family had a beautiful, typical old heritage house in the Tamil area but none of my siblings wanted to maintain it and you can see three flats in the place of the old house now. The division of the property among heirs is the main reason because we are no more living in a joint family system, maintenance costs come second only,” said Dr V. Nalla, who is working in the field of protection of heritage building in Pondy for the last 30 years. “We had an association called ‘Friends for Pondicherry Heritage’ and now we are moving to a people movement for protecting heritage buildings,” he added.
According to INTACH, lack of maintenance, development activities and lack of awareness among people are the main reasons for the loss of this rich heritage. Absence of proper heritage law to protect these buildings is being pointed out as yet another reason, which allows people to do any kind of developmental activities on the buildings.
A separate department for heritage is also a demand of INTACH. Presently, INTACH works with a team of 15 members, which includes architects, engineers, and they are doing the listing of the buildings into various categories and submit project reports to the government on the maintenance of these buildings.
“We have submitted a project of Rs 80-85 crore for the restoration work of government owned buildings a year back. After that at least the restoration work of some buildings started,” said A Arul, senior architect working with INTACH.
He said that though there is lacking of fund, the government can take some initiatives for restoration work of the buildings which are in pathetic condition now.
The PWD’s Chief engineer, P. Saminathan clarified that the department is already doing it. “Restoration work is on in Bharathi Museum, Old court building and Aayi Mandapam now and the tender process is going for the restoration of the Town Hall building which collapsed two years back.
The government has finalised the tender amount as Rs 7 crore and works will start when the tender process is completed,” he said. For the restoration of Bharathi’s house, the government allotted Rs 99 lakh, Rs 5 crore for old court building and about Rs 20 lakh for repair work in Aayi Mandapam.
Union ministry of tourism has sanctioned Rs 8,528.34 lakh to Pondicherry under its flagship program Swadesh Darshan’. Minister of tourism P. Rajavelu said the department has allotted Rs 2,199.97 crore from this for the development of heritage areas in Puducherry including its restoration, conservation and illumination under the centrally sponsored ‘programme. The new initiatives are expected to preserve the unique charm of Puducherry which attracts visitors.
