One more heritage bldg 'demolished' in Mysuru

Manipal Finance Building on Dewan's Road slides into history

One more heritage building in the heart of the city has faded into history, this time on World Heritage Day, observed on April 18.

 Echanuru Kumar, a member of the Mysuru City Heritage Committee, said that he noticed that the Manipal Finance building on Dewan’s Road had been demolished on Tuesday.

“People who own heritage buildings sell them off for various reasons. Realtors buy them and they keep both the purchase and their demolition a secret as otherwise conservationists would protest and stall the process. Usually, they start the demolition on Saturdays and by Monday morning everything is over because there is minimal movement of people during weekends,” he said.

He said that there were around 600 heritage buildings in Mysuru city that are over a century old.

“The Heritage Committee has listed 201 of them in its recent report. The final report will be submitted in another month’s time. The Manipal Finance building was among these 201 buildings. It was the place where Ramakrishna Ashram was started before it was shifted to Yadavagiri. Noted writer Kuvempu was a student of the ashram here. A small stretch of Dewan’s Road from Sita Vilas Road to Krishna Vilas Road has six heritage buildings,” he said.

He added that just a week ago another heritage building on Sayyaji Rao Road near Ayurveda College Circle which housed the Kerala Samajam was also demolished.

“Once the report of the Heritage Committee is submitted, the district administration would release a list of regulations for the conservation of heritage buildings in the city. Deputy Commissioner D Randeep is pushing for the early release of the regulations. Once the regulations come into force, there will be a check on the demolition of heritage buildings,” he said.