A reported plan to demolish a 200-year-old heritage structure here to set up a club house for legislators by the government has come in for stiff opposition from eminent personalities from various walks of life.
Demanding that the government preserve the 200-year-old Balabrooie Guest House, heritage lovers under the banner "Save Balabrooie Committee, a forum of artistes and dignitaries from various walks of life today staged a demonstration outside the British-era structure.
The protest was held despite a clarification by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah yesterday that there were no plans to pull down the heritage building.
"There is no proposal to demolish or alter Balabrooie," he had told reporters amid mounting opposition against tampering with the historic structure.
The forum is led by noted architect Naresh Narasimhan, theatre personalities Jagadish Raja, Arundathi Raja and Sreenivas G Kappanna, artist D G Vasudev, filmmaker B Suresha and others.
Vasudev told reporters that the government, instead of demolishing Balabrooie, should convert it into a museum to depict the history of the state.
Filmmaker Prakash Belawadi said the government should have a policy to protect heritage buildings on the lines of the Heritage Act of Maharashtra.
Apart from a hue and cry raised by people, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Marthada Muniyappa has filed a PIL in Karnataka High Court seeking to protect the Guest House.
"There is no need for building legislators' club house at such a serene location. We are against it," Muniyappa said.
Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore had stayed in Balabrooie, which was the official residence of the Commissioners of Bangalore till the country's independence.
It was also the official residence of the first three chief ministers of Karnataka.
The idea to convert Balabrooie was approved by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.
