The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) will reach out to Chief Minister Mr.Basavaraj Bommai and seek special funds for conservation of heritage buildings in the city.
At a meeting convened to discuss the status of heritage structures here on Friday Mayor Shivakumar said he will take a delegation of elected representatives and apprise the Chief Minister of the imperatives of releasing emergency funds for the purpose.
The delegation will also seek special allocation of funds annually in the State budget exclusively for the repair and maintenance of heritage buildings. This will ensure that there is no paucity of financial resources to take up works to save the landmark structures, Mr. Shivakumar added.
He said in case there was a delay in release of funds by the government, he would initiate measures with funds from the MCC to save three important structures which are crying for attention. They are the MCC main building, Silver Jubilee Clock Tower and the Town Hall.
The Mayor also said that the repairs and maintenance of those heritage structures which are under the custody of the MCC will be taken up on a priority basis and this also includes the Visvesvaraya Building at K.R.Circle.
The meeting was convened following the recent collapse of a portion of the Maharani’s Science College which raised concerns over the safety of heritage buildings in Mysuru.
N.S. Rangaraju, member of District Heritage Conservation Committee and representing INTACH Mysuru, cited from the amendment to the Zonal Regulations of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and pointed out to the imperatives of approaching corporates and NRIs to create a corpus fund for heritage building maintenance and repairs.
Making a presentation on the status of various heritage buildings in the city Prof. Rangaraju said that the Clock Tower needs immediate attention and chemical treatment to prevent rodents from gnawing away at the foundation. He also called for reviving the heritage cell in the MCC as it had become defunct.
Pointing out that the MCC engineers were not trained to take up heritage conservation work as it had its own norms, Prof. Rangaraju suggested that a two-day sensitisation programme be conducted for them and the Mayor agreed to the proposal. Prof. Rangaraju also suggested that the MCC should also establish a wing trained to make lime mortar which is used for conservation of heritage buildings. ‘’Applying cement or M-Sand violates conservation norms and should be eschewed’’, he added.
As Mysuru was declared as an Ivory City just as Jaipur is christened Pink City, the MCC should ensure that all government and private buildings in the core heritage zone comply with the colour regulations. Even the name boards should be in compliance with heritage regulations, said Prof.Rangaraju calling for dismantling of a few digital display boards that have come up in parts of the city.
Senior engineers and officials from the MCC were present.