Can anything be more ironical than the most cash-rich civic body in the country complaining about lack of funds?
Can anything be more ironical than the most cash-rich civic body in the country complaining about lack of funds? The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) came up with that absurd reply for not publishing the list of 1,089 heritage structures approved by the state urban development department since 2009. In response to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query, the BMC said it did not have money to publish the list in newspapers.
On April 24, DNA in its front-page story reported that the file recommending 1,089 sites to the city’s heritage list has been gathering dust at the BMC’s development planning (DP) department for 30 months.
The remark on the internal correspondence among civic officials cited lack of funds as the reason for not publishing the list. DNA has a copy of the RTI reply.
“The list takes up almost 150 pages. It will cost lakhs of rupees to publish it in newspapers and the government gazette,” said senior BMC architect AN Joshi. He says the heritage list should be published on the BMC website instead of newspapers. However, for 30 months it has not even found mention on the civic body’s website.
Sudhir Ghate, chief engineer of the DP department, was unavailable for comment. Pankaj Joshi, executive chairperson of the Urban Design Research Institute, said it is sad that the civic body is more concerned about ‘lakhs of rupees’ instead of precious structures in the city.
Each year, the civic body spends almost Rs100 crore on repairing potholes and over Rs200 crore on cleaning nullahs. “But it is reluctant to spend a tiny sum from its Rs23,000 crore annual budget for publishing the list. No one will buy the BMC’s excuse. It is unconvincing,” Joshi said, adding that once the list is published, people will not touch the recommended heritage structures.
Besides the existing 588 heritage structures, the new list includes 10 Grade I, 165 Grade II-A, 208 Grade II-B, 518 Grade III and 47 precincts.
Senior Congress leader and corporator Mohsin Haider said he would raise the issue of not publishing the heritage list in the BMC general body meeting. He said adequate funds will be allotted to preserve and safeguard the heritage structures. “The lethargic attitude of the civic administration is putting the city’s valuable heritage structures at risk. A probe will be initiated to check if a particular individual is responsible for the delay,” he said.
“Why has the list not been published as yet? Does anyone have a vested interest in it? A delay in publishing the list can give ample time to those whose structures feature on the new list. In the given time, they can demolish the new structures listed and develop them as well. All angles need to be probed,” Haider said.
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