Mysore heritage structures get Unesco backing

Mysore can boast of over 200 historical structures. However, most of them are poorly maintained, unlike in the days of the Wadiyars when their upkeep was an annual pre-Dasara ritual. With the changing landscape and unrestrained growth, a few of them have been relegated to the pages of history.

Hopes were revived on the maintenance and improvement of these structures when the Centre chose the royal city as a beneficiary under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Though more than four years have lapsed since the mission was launched in December, 2005, not much headway has been made.

The JNNURM implementing authorities recently drew up a Rs 2.9 crore project for improving the heritage structures and a Rs 51.82 crore project for the development of the heritage core zone. The schemes sent to the Centre are yet to be approved.

Now, hopes of conserving these structures and the heritage character of the city, developed over the last two centuries, have been revived with a Unesco team visiting Mysore and holding talks with the stakeholders on preservation and restoration of a few heritage structures.

A four-member team comprising Unesco director headquartered in New Delhi, Minja Yang, Paul Trouilloud, Gerard Gasselin from France and Nicole Bolomey went around the city.

They held detailed discussions with the local officials including the deputy commissioner, the Heritage Commissioner and the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) commissioner on February 24 on preparing a detailed project report to protect the historical structures and features of the city.

Their discussion also covered establishment of a conservation cell, training, identifying the core heritage area, study of social structure, identifying heritage structures and subjects, and DPR implementation procedure.

Structures already identified as heritage ones, inclusion of more structures into the heritage list, amendments to the building bye-laws and regulatory mechanism, support to private heritage building owners and other related issues concerning conservation of heritage structures and retention of the old city’s core heritage features were also discussed. The heritage angle in the master plan also came up for discussion.

The Unesco team also held talks with Sai Consulting Engineers on the proposed master plan for conservation and retention of Mysore’s core feature and heritage, according to MCC commissioner K S Raiker.