KMC yet to act on heritage scam

19 Nov, 2010 1146hrs IST TNN[ Saikat Ray ]


KOLKATA: More than seven months have passed since a Trinamool Congress delegation demanded a probe into an alleged scam over the sanctioning of building plans for highrises on some of city's prominent heritage properties. The Trinamool delegation, comprising opposition leader in the assembly, Partha Chatterjee, and former mayor Subrata Mukherjee, had criticised the erstwhile Left Front civic board for allowing a section of city's influential promoters to encroach upon heritage land in lieu of donation to the civic coffers. However, more than five and half a months after the Trinamool formed the KMC board, no action has been taken to rectify matters.

Some of the most prominent structures, where construction of highrises was allowed by the Left Front board, included the house of Pramathesh Barua on Ballygunge Circular Road, that of Harish Mukherjee on Harish Mukherjee Road, a property of the Maharaja of Cossimbazar on APC Roy Road, the office of Sishu Sahitya Parishad on Townshend Road in Bhowanipore, among other landmark heritage buildings. The Trinamool delegation had promised to take action if the party was voted back to the KMC board. This topic being hot' before the KMC elections in May, the party had made it a poll issue and included it in its election manifesto.

The KMC internal audit had also criticised the role of the civic top brass and the KMC heritage conservation committee for de-listing some of the prominent heritage structures against donation. In 2007, the KMC authorities had declared 1,363 buildings as heritage' ones. Later, some of these buildings were deleted from list after discussion in the KMC heritage conservation committee.

The KMC authorities' decision to allow a real estate developer to build a highrise in a posh south Kolkata locality had also raised a storm in the civic corridors. The civic authorities had then collected Rs 5 crore as donation' from a section of promoters in the name of the heritage conservation committee. The amount was supposed to be spent for the restoration and upgrade of some of the poorly' maintained heritage buildings.

However, it's been more than five and half a months since the Trinamool has formed the KMC board. But no action has been taken by the present civic authorities to undo the wrong. On the contrary, the present board has even failed to rejuvenate the KMC heritage conservation committee which has been lying defunct for past six months.

Trouble started for the KMC heritage conservation committee after Barun De, a noted historian and a member of the committee, resigned in February this year. The civic top brass then decided to go for a reshuffle' of the committee. However, no progress has been made in this direction in past six months.

"I resigned from the committee after taking charge as the chairperson of the West Bengal heritage commission. I don't know what is happening there," De said on Thursday.

Worse, the Rs 5 crore that was collected as donation' was never used for upgrading the city's heritage buildings. Municipal commissioner Arnab Roy, who is the chairperson of the KMC heritage conservation committee, could not be contacted for his comment. However, a senior KMC official said the Rs 5 crore collected from a section of promoters as donation was still lying idle.

Acupuncture to feature on UNESCO cultural heritage list?

New Delhi, Nov 12 (ANI): Chinese traditional acupuncture and Peking Opera are among other contenders for UNESCO's intangible heritage list next week.That's significant, particularly for acupuncture, which is widely practiced in more than 160 countries and regions worldwide," said Huang Jianyin, deputy secretary-general with the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, an NGO based in Beijing.

"Getting the status would help improve and secure the notion across the world that acupuncture and other traditional Chinese medical procedures were created in China by the Chinese," he added.

China had filed the application last year, reports China Daily.

In addition, Chinese printing with wooden movable type, the technique for leak-proof partitions of Chinese junks and the Uygur folk performance Meshrep were also proposed for intangible cultural heritage status as they are in need of urgent safeguarding, the Paris-based organization said.

The final results will be announced around November 19. (ANI)