Most neglected urban aspect

Heritage sites all over the country have a great social, economic and national importance. Conservation of heritage is crucial as it not only triggers tourism and contribute in growth of country’s economy but reminds us of our glorious past as well. Many of these historical monuments lie in ruins due to negligence. Hence, there is a need for urban planners and city managers to understand the significance of the preservation of these relics and work towards protecting the heritage sites.

If you talk to any of the new generation of urban planners or city managers in India, you will clearly feel the indifference about one of the most important aspects of urban management : conservation of our heritage. And this includes the built heritage and the natural heritage.
Conservation heritage experts such as architects and historians, on the other hand, are found complaining that archaeological sites or stand alone monuments of great historical importance still lie in ruins all over the country and those responsible for protecting them and documenting them are least bothered.

Conservation of heritage in our emerging cities is crucial not just for preserving our past with some emotions attached to them but has social, economic and national perspectives aligned to the same. In today’s time tourism potential of any country also counts as an international parameter of growth. Tourism brings in foreign money and contributes to the GDP and that is the economic angle.

Yet, what we see is minimal efforts from different governments – national or regional -towards identifying new monuments, excavating significant sites or using experts to maintain old monuments that represent India’s glorious past.

There are multiple reasons for this neglect. First, the low priority of concerned departments in government and secondly the requisite demands from society for the same. Since it’s a low priority area, the budgets are also relatively small for this kind of an effort.

On the national level, there is a very good agency by the name Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which was created way back in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who went on to become its Director General later. It works under the Culture Ministry of India with prime job of maintaining India’s heritage. But ASI has a vast list of its own monuments and sites that they look after. A case in point is of an iron pillar which is at Mehrauli near Delhi and originally belonged to Udaygiri near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, a district which is full of archaeological treasures. But not many know much about this 5th century Gupta period monument.
Actually, most of the Indian heritage monuments are classified for protection as those under the jurisdiction of ASI and the remaining are under state archaeology departments. State departments too always keep struggling for funds and normally a posting of Archaeology Commissioner is considered as a sideline job for an IAS officer, not much sought after by many in the elite service. It then has a ripple effect as the entire organisation does not work with much enthusiasm towards the very purpose it has been created. The state of museums across the country, mainly at the district places, is an area of huge concern.

While ASI has expertise, it lacks requisite funds. While big municipal corporations have money, they lack expertise. Capacity building in this sector for municipal officers is one way. Of the three schemes launched by urban develolment ministry one pertains to heritage cities but the focus needs to be sharpened for this so cities beautiful past is restored piece by piece and funds made available are used properly. Heritage conservation of a city also means supporting old libraries, enriching museums and looking after old trees and gardens which have a glorious past.

But what we are talking about is the heritage conservation in our sprawling cities. Here the municipal corporations have a role to play which they are not playing at all for more reasons than one. Neither the mayors nor municipal commissioners are much interested in this area of work or perhaps they think erecting new buildings is their only mandate. I have known many cities where the natural heritage such as century old lakes or steps wells are not being maintained, in fact they are being unmindfully buried to create land for construction. What is more unfortunate, the citizens are not raising their voice against the demolition of archaeologically important structures. Meera Dass, architect and former member of National Monuments Authority, New Delhi says listing of such monuments and their documentation is a must for saving our past. Having been associated with INTACH, a non governmental body created for this purpose, Ms Dass says much more work is required to be done in this area considering India’s vast treasures.

When we talk about looking after our heritage it’s not only Taj Mahal or Kutub Minar or Khajuraho temple cluster, it is much more. Several small monuments are strewn all over the places in our cities which are growing by the day. This growth of urban hubs is posing the biggest threats to historical monuments. While bodies like INTACH have been doing something in this field, along with ASI, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Archaeology, Culture and Heritage) is facing a financial crunch.

When the Government of India gave away the iconic Red Fort of New Delhi to Dalmia group for maintenance, the role of ASI once again came in for criticism in public for falling short on its efficiency and resources, something that led to entry of private players for conservation of our important monuments.

Early last year the conservationists lobby was hugely motivated and happy that Ahmedabad was adjudged as the World Heritage City by the UNESCO. This was expected to trigger a movement across the nation for heritage conservation but that did not happen.

In Indore, Bhalu Mondhe, a Padmashree winning artist has been trying to raise his voice for conserving a number of quaint beautiful buildings and structures in Malwa area but not with much success. “We had listed more than 150 small and big monuments for conservation but authorities neither have interest nor funds”, Mondhe, President of The Nature Volunteers said, adding more attention is also required to be given to natural heritage conservation in cities.

But in neighbouring Bhopal, the MP government has recently done an extraordinary job of preserving the century-old magnificent Minto Hall which was in disuse for over 25 years after the MP state Assembly got shifted to new premises in the late nineties. Nawab Sultanjahan Begum, the female ruler of Bhopal princely state, got the rest house made for Lord Minto, the 17th viceroy of India and also the Governor General in 1909. After the Raj was gone and states merged into Indian Republic, this Indo-British style building was used as Government Hamidia College, Bhopal and later it housed the Assembly with lot of wood work inside.

Hari Ranjan Rao, Principal Secretary Tourism in MP says it took two years and Rs 65 crore for a Delhi conservation architect to do the massive restoration work and bring back the original shape and grandeur. The Minto Hall was recently inaugurated and is now an international convention venue with huge halls, corporate board meetings and a top restaurant. It’s the tourism department which got it restored while still maintaining the old grandeur, style and quaint look. In fact, Minto Hall can now lead conservation movements in many other cities because as said earlier, most cities have a large number of historic monuments, buildings and such assets that need immediate attention to save them for posterity.

Historic Bhopal city now has a new beautiful address that stands as a specimen of an excellent heritage restoration project of urban India.