Karnataka government okays commercial use of heritage buildings

The government will ‘incentivise’ the use of heritage buildings for commercial purposes by conditionally allowing their owners to part with a portion of the structures to become office spaces or hotels.

This is a highlight of the Zonal Regulations (Amendment), 2020, which the government has notified.

A heritage conservation committee (HCC) will be set up in every district to oversee the conservation of heritage buildings and grade them.

Experts welcomed the new regulations; some found it ambiguous regarding its implementation in Bengaluru, a city where many heritage structures have vanished over time.

In the case of heritage buildings falling in zones where office, commercial or hotel use is normally prohibited, the owner or lessee will be allowed “to convert part or the whole thereof of the non-commercial area, within such heritage building to commercial or office or hotel”. The owner or lessee has to give a written undertaking to preserve the heritage building in its existing state with due repairs.

Several commercial enterprises in Bengaluru are housed in heritage bungalows. Also, several of them were torn down, like the century-old Cash Pharmacy.

The HCC has 21 members who will prepare a list of heritage buildings, artefacts, precincts of historic, cultural or environmental significance or scenic beauty such as sacred groves, water bodies, open areas, etc.

These will be classified as Grade-I, II or III according to heritage value. While Grade-I will be for buildings of national or historical importance and all natural sites, Grade-II will be for buildings of regional or local importance.

The state government will also create a separate ‘Repair Fund’ for heritage structures. In case a heritage structure is required to be demolished, the regulations also have a provision for grant of Transferable Development Rights.

Meera Iyer, convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), welcomed the regulations, but said that the HCC composition was not ideal. “It is very large, too full of government officials and does not have enough of technical and other experts from outside the government,” she said. While incentives for owners of heritage properties — a long-pending demand — is welcome, they are too few and need to be strengthened and expanded considerably, she said.

Naresh Narasimhan, urban architect, said the move will help preserve around 800 heritage buildings in Bengaluru alone. “They have also included natural features such as lakes and rivers as heritage structures,” he noted.