‘Next they might say Mysore Palace must be demolished’

Yaduveer demands disbanding of Heritage Panel and formation of new one with real experts

Mysuru: Mincing no words against the District Heritage Committee that has recommended the demolition of Devaraja Market and Lansdowne Building, titular head of erstwhile Mysore royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar — while launching a protest rally to save Devaraja Market this morning — alleged that there are only two heritage experts in the Heritage Committee and the rest do not have any knowledge about history and heritage.

“Only two people are knowledgeable about the historic value of structures built by the Wadiyars and they are in minority. This Committee must be disbanded and a real Heritage Committee must be constituted with a majority of members being conservationists, architects who are experts in heritage structures, restoration specialists and technical experts. Only then there is some hope for Mysuru’s heritage structures,” he said.

“Tomorrow a day might come when they will say that Mysore Palace must be demolished. We reside in the private quarters of the Palace and we promptly take up repairs and restoration every year by calling experts. Like that it is the responsibility of the Government to repair and restore all heritage structures. Demolition is not the answer,” Yaduveer said.

“We have kept alive the ‘Save Heritage Buildings’ movement for three years. If there are proper repairs and restoration, both Devaraja Market and Lansdowne Building will last for 100 more years. In fact, the technical committee that was constituted earlier had recommended restoration. But its recommendation was rejected and a new committee was formed just to favour the demolition. And the same thing was accepted by the Heritage Committee,” he said.

“There is a hidden agenda behind demolition and I am not going to mention that in public. Even if it is mentioned, it will be of no use as the lobby is very powerful. We must oppose this tooth and nail. Moreover, none of the recommendations have been kept before the public and the people of Mysuru, the actual stakeholders of the heritage structures, are kept in the dark,” he said.