Hyderabad: Many dilapidated heritage buildings in the state, especially in Hyderabad, would be demolished to pave way for new buildings. The state-level heritage committee headed by the Chief Minister would take the decisions after the new Telangana Heritage Act, 2016 is enacted. The Bill being drafted by the tourism and culture department is expected to be tabled in the next session of the Assembly. The state government has been facing resistance to such demolitions for the last two years.
The government had planned demolition of a few heritage buildings earlier, such as the dilapidated Osmania General Hospital old building and the Chest Hospital in Erragadda, and take up new constructions in their place, but backtracked after resistance from heritage activists. Two laws enacted in undivided AP deal with heritage issues: The Andhra Pradesh Urban Areas (Development) Act, 1975 (Act No.1 of 1975) and Hyderabad Urban Development Authority Zoning Regulations, 1981.
Section 59 of the AP Urban Areas (Development) Act, 1975 provides for making regulations consistent with the Act. Subsequently, Regula-tion 13 was added to HUDA Regulations, 1981, which identified and notified 137 heritage buildings and precincts in Hyderabad for conservation. “There is no heritage Act or policy for Telangana. Some heritage buildings are governed under the Centre’s Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act Act, 1958 and 2010, some others by AP Act, 1975 and HUDA Regulations, 1981,” said an officer of the tourism department.
“We are devising an exclusive heritage policy and Act for Telangana. A state-level committee headed by the CM will be the implementing agency. The Act is being devised to conserve heritage structures, culture and traditions of Telangana besides giving powers to the committee to demolish heritage buildings lying in dilapidated conditions posing a risk to the lives of citizens,” the officer said.'Though the state government had attempted to demolish dilapidated heritage buildings in the city by scrapping Regulation No.13 in December 2015 by issuing a GO, the Law department had cautioned that the GO would not stand legal scrutiny and enacting a new Act would be better. Based on this, the government has constituted an expert panel to draft the new Act.
