The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to rope in experts from IIT Kharagpur and IIEST Shibpur for categorization of heritage structures under its limits.
The matter was brought to the fore by councillor Biswarup Dey, who proposed to expedite the process of categorization of the remaining heritage structures that are awaiting the gradation by the heritage wing of the civic body. He also claimed that many buildings despite getting the heritage tag are in dilapidated condition following lack of maintenance. According to mayor Firhad Hakim, in other big cities of the world like London, there are dedicated funds for the preservation of such heritage structures that are an asset to the society. However, in Kolkata there are no schemes of funds being provided by the central governments for such works. Considering the fact, there are situations, when even after being categorized as ‘heritage’, owners of the structures are unable to carry out the maintenance due to financial constraints. The mayor pointed out that it was also observed in some cases that the structures were given heritage status without evaluating the historical or archaeological values of the buildings.
For the gradation of the structures, based on their archaeological and historical values, the civic body has decided to rope in experts from IIT Kharagpur and IIEST Shibpur. The experts would categorise and do the numbering of the structures based on the archaeological and historical values that the buildings have. According to sources, the system would be followed for gradation of the remaining more than 300 structures that were identified for heritage status by the civic body.