Experts urge: declare city 'heritage area', no more zoning

To prevent heritage buildings from going the Badami House way, a group of 85 architects, urban planners and activists have given a detailed suggestion to save the old structures.

They have urged the Bangalore Development Authority to incorporate the suggestions in the draft of the Revised Master Plan 2031.

Instead of dividing the city into heritage zones, the group - called Heritage Beku - has asked the BDA to consider the entire city as a heritage area to prevent buildings from falling through the cracks.

In the current draft, the BDA has divided the city into just 12 heritage zones: Central Administrative Heritage Zone, Pete and Bengaluru Fort, Gavipuram-Basavanagudi-VV Puram, MG Road, Shivajinagar, Cleveland Town, Richards Town, Malleswaram, Ulsoor, Whitefield Inner Circle, Begur Temple and Bangalore Palace.

The group, however, believes that all aging buildings must be protected since they would qualify as heritage structures in the future. "This effort is to ensure we don't lose any more buildings like the Badami House," said Priya Chetty Rajagopal, who is responsible for putting the group together.

"The very famous Badami House is a part of the three structures - LIC Building, BBMP head office and Badami House. The Badami House has been razed and the same would be the case with Vani Vilas Hospital," she added.

While the group is happy with the government for reclaiming and developing some sites, it said it is creating a legal document and a comprehensive set of suggestions with expert inputs to make sure old buildings of the city are retained.