Mysuru: After the loss of Devraja market, Mysuru City will lose yet another heritage structure, after the Mysuru City Corporation Council on Tuesday cleared the reconstruction and not the restoration of the 125 year old Lansdowne building, built by the then Maharaja Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar in 1892 to mark the visit of British Viceroy Lansdowne and his wife to Mysore.
MCC had taken up the restoration works of 124 year old Lansdowne building (which had collapsed five years ago) at the cost of Rs 2.75 Crore but had stopped work on the Gothic structure recently.
Lansdowne, with 350mm walls and a 'Madras Terrace' has a ground floor and a first floor, teeming with nearly a 100 shops including 55 on ground floor and 42 on the first floor, is located at the heart of the city.
The restoration of the 120 year old Devraja market, taken up at a cost of Rs 8.8 crores too was stopped recently after a portion of it collapsed. Followed by the experts’ reports, MCC Council had even recently approved for demolition and reconstruction of Devraja Market instead of its restoration.
Heritage experts of city blame lack of maintenance as the reason for the fate of the two esteemed heritage structures. It’s no wonder the city is rapidly losing such structures. Due to the apathy of the government, 201 historical structures in Mysuru are yet to get the heritage tag.
Even though it has been a decade since the Heritage experts committee identified 201 buildings in Mysuru that should be given the tag, department of heritage, archaeology and museums is yet to send the proposal to department of Kannada and culture to declare them as heritage buildings.
Also, it was in 2012 that the department of Heritage, Archaeology and Museums (DHAM) proposed for the amendment to section 13 E of Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act 1961 in order to set the rules to declare Heritage buildings, and also give powers to urban local bodies to declare heritage buildings, conserve and protect them. But the proposed bill is still pending with Urban development ministry for clearance.
In 2004, Karnataka State declared six cities including Mysuru as Heritage Cities. Following this, a district level heritage experts committee was constituted by government under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Mysuru District for the district, to identify heritage buildings in Mysuru.
