It’s a heritage issue

Even as the Balabrooie episode is yet to fade away, the news of the Carlton House Campus on Palace Road going in for further construction has jolted many mainstream city activists.

March 27, 2015 07:24 pm | Updated 07:24 pm IST

Members of the Sahiti Mattu Kalavidara Vedike, Citizens’Action Forum,and BPac and concerned citizens who plan to present a memorandum tothe Chief Minister on the Carlton House issue.— PHOTO: SUDHAKAR JAIN

Members of the Sahiti Mattu Kalavidara Vedike, Citizens’Action Forum,and BPac and concerned citizens who plan to present a memorandum tothe Chief Minister on the Carlton House issue.— PHOTO: SUDHAKAR JAIN

It’s not long since the rallying for Balabrooie took place, and there comes the whole issue once again. It’s Carlton House Campus this time in the news, as the verdant 7.5 acres is what the PWD officials and the Chief Minister’s office is supposedly looking at. What is being eyed is a 4-acre portion of the campus which would bring down hundreds of trees for having a permanent brick-and-mortar structure in place for the residence of the Chief Minister, while retaining the CID office building already in the complex. “After Balabrooie we thought we had made a point clear, but we have lost trust with the Government. We the citizens of Bangalore need to just come together now, not just fighting for retaining Carlton House campus as it is, but for the wider cause of guarding our heritage with a heritage law in place,” the voices of many angry urban space planners and city lovers echo the same feeling.

In spite of the denials and vehement ‘no-idea’ responses from the CM’s official circles, and the complete ‘no information’ from PWD officials, the news of the Carlton House Campus on Palace Road, which could be sharing space for bringing in a residence for our CM, has sent shock waves among architects and urban space activists in the city.

Members of the Sahiti Mattu Kalavidara Vedike, Citizens’Action Forum, BPac, architects and concerned citizens came together on Thursday to “vent their anguish” over the latest developments where they smell matters being “totally secretive and not in the interest of the city or its citizens.”

Concerned citizens and professionals including architect Naresh Narasimhan, N.S. Mukunda, Srinivas G. Kappanna, Revathy Ashok, Shashidhara Nanjundaiah, Shubha Madhusudhan, Ravindra Reshme, G.A. Bhaskar, and Prakash Belawadi were part of the think-tank discussion team who have formed ‘a strong collective voice’ to meet the Chief Minister for presenting a memorandum for reconsidering the conversion.

Most of them said this was the right time for Bangaloreans to sit-up and take a call not just on buildings arbitrarily “being taken away for inconsiderate reasons,” but also for assessing the status of our green spaces, lakes and public spaces. “May be such wake-up calls will help us look deeper into how soon we can have our heritage law passed by the legislative process,” said architect Naresh Narasimhan. “My call would be for ‘Urban-commoning’ where one has to be sensitive towards reclaiming common land,” he said. “Did you know that Bangalore Palace itself is situated on 445 acres that the Government should look into for making it heritage worthy?” he said.

Most of the urban space activists said, just as Delhi, Mumbai and Goa have their heritage laws in place, Bangalore should concurrently initiate the larger heritage idea, having the Urban Arts Commission revived with an Urban Commissioner included. When the Government is considering the formulation of a cultural policy for the first time in the State, it is time it framed a comprehensive law to restore, nurture and preserve heritage sites, spaces and buildings. This should be done in consultation with experts and citizen representatives, to prevent any future misuse of the city’s rare legacy structures, they said.

Meanwhile, PWD Secretary M.R. Kamble and Additional Chief Secretary D.N. Narasimharaju refused to be drawn into the controversy. Both told The Hindu on Thursday that they were not aware of the plans allowing Carlton House premises to be used for the Chief Minister’s residence.

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