Visakhapatnam:

Time and again, there had been elaborate talks on giving the heritage buildings of Old Town a makeover.

Sources had earlier said crores of rupees have been earmarked by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) for revamp and conservation of the Port City’s heritage structures that are badly in need of renovation, conservation, and maintenance. But except some ray of light for the Town Hall, the condition of other derelict structures have worsened.
Sometimes, funds from JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) or from the World Bank was expected to come to the rescue of the heritage structures and include them in the tourism map but nothing materialised. The only positive development so far has been cleaning up of the Town Hall and putting up a notice by GVMC banning all functions at the venue.

There are almost a dozen heritage and colonial era buildings and sites in Old Town such as the Town Hall, European cemetery, Queen Victoria’s pavilion, Queen Mary’s Schools, St John Church and School, St Aloysius School, Lighthouse, Ishaq Medina Dargah, Abu Sarang Street, Lavender Canal and some other heritage buildings. Some of these like the hilltop dargah and mosque dates back to the mid 13th century while most others belong to the 19th and early 20th century.

The 16th century European cemetery, which is covered with garbage and weeds, was cleaned about a couple of years ago by GVMC at the initiative of Intach (Indian National Trust for Culture and Heritage) but is now back to its former state. M Janaki, the then additional commissioner of GVMC, had taken a lot of initiative in clearing the cemetery and had even allocated Rs 12 lakh for its renovation. The three century old burial ground has around 50 graves.

Intach member Jayshree Hatangadi said, “When I visited the cemetery this week, I found the wall broken towards its left and has been encroached upon by surrounding houses. Garbage has been thrown inside and the weeds and bushes have regrown to such an extent that stepping inside is almost impossible. Only the Town Hall has been cleaned and ‘No functions to be held here’ notice pasted on the door, which is a good move by the GVMC in protecting the building from all the damage and litter, which happens every time some function is held there.”

GVMC’s chief city planner Venkata Rathnam said, “Both the European cemetery in Old Town and the Dutch cemetery at Jagadamba Junction are in a bad shape, with broken compound walls and our municipal commissioner has personally inspected the sites. Hopefully, some renovation and cleaning works would be taken up for the cemeteries.”

Not only the cemetery, but the Victoria Pavilion and the Queen Victoria statue, which got a makeover around two months ago, is in a mess. “The statue is again covered with coal dust, which can’t be helped because of the pollution is the area. But worse, the workers have left the cleaning job incomplete. They have left brushes, brooms and clothes, but removed the signage. Even if there’s some renovation, the maintenance aspect is totally ignored,” added Hatangadi.

The century-old Queen Mary’s Girls High School (QMGHS) is also in a rickety state, especially the tiled roofs and wooden staircases are all creaking and crumbling and in urgent need for renovation. But it seems the government is waiting for it to crumble further and then pull it down altogether so that it meets the same fate as the Kurupam Market structure, which was surreptitiously demolished in November 2013 by GVMC officials. According to government sources, Rs 32 lakh was sanctioned by the state education department for construction of a new school building in the existing premises but the money was diverted to other “needy” schools. The building, which now houses the school, was earlier a medical school and even before that the old collectorate, dating back to the early 19th century.

When asked about the plans and funds for renovation of Old Town heritage structures, GVMC Commissioner Pravin Kumar replied, “Except Town Hall, all other structures belong to different management and trusts. GVMC will work together with the respective management to give a facelift to them as has been done for the Queen Victoria Pavilion.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Visakhapatnam / by Sulogna Mehta / TNN / July 08th, 2016