Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Mysuru Chapter inaugurated

Mysore: The Mysuru Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was inaugurated this morning by scion of erstwhile Mysore royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar. 

INTACH was founded in 1984 in New Delhi with the vision to spearhead heritage awareness and conservation in India. Today INTACH is recognised as one of the world’s largest heritage organisations, with over 190 Chapters across the country. INTACH has pioneered the conservation and preservation of not just natural and built heritage but intangible heritage as well.

Inaugurating the Mysuru Chapter at an event held at Hotel Royal Inn on KRS Road this morning, Yaduveer said that he was opposed to the proposal of converting the campus of Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry into a multi-level parking lot. 

Yaduveer was referring to a report published in Star of Mysore yesterday where Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry Management Committee President C. Krishnappa had suggested converting the spacious campus of Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry on Vinoba Road into a multi-level parking facility so that it can ease parking problem on D. Devaraja Urs Road and surrounding roads. 

“If all heritage campuses are converted into parking lots, we will ultimately lose important structures built by erstwhile rulers and chieftains. I was shocked by the proposal and it is an unfortunate development. Heritage conservation will be compromised if we convert the Choultry into a parking lot and the future generations will lose sight and importance of the heritage structure,” he said. 

“Mysuru is called the Heritage City as there are many heritage structures in the heart of the city like the Mysore Palace, Devaraja Market, Lansdowne Building, Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry and a couple of buildings around the Palace. If we commercialise these structures, we will lose the Heritage City Tag and this is a sad development,” Yaduveer said. 

He appreciated the INTACH Mysuru chapter and appealed to them to save the heritage structures for future generations. 

Speaking as the chief guest, Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar said that intangible and natural heritage of Mysuru city must be protected at any cost. INTACH must play direct and indirect role to save the cultural and heritage aspects of Mysuru, he opined. Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Shilpa Nag said that the MCC is planning to install four welcome arches at the entrances to Mysuru City. She requested the cooperation of INTACH members in conservation. 

Major General (Retd) L.K. Gupta, Chairman, INTACH, New Delhi, S. Suresh, Convenor, INTACH Chennai Chapter were present. 

INTACH Mysuru members

Prof. N.S. Rangaraju, Convenor INTACH Mysuru Chapter. Prof A.V. Narasimhamurthy (historian), Kamalamba Narasimhamurthy (wife Prof A.V. Narasimhamurthy), A.S. Nataraj (advocate), B.M. Nithyananda (builder), Shivanna (Nithyananda’s grandfather who supervised the construction of Mysore Palace), M.A. Sudhir Kumar (Managing Partner, Royal Inn), Prof G. Kariyappa (architect and architectural specialist), Prof. G.S. Ramadas Reddy (professor of archaeology), Prof. L. Sujeendra (history professor), Prof. S.R. Ramesh (CEO of Mahajana Group of Institutions), N.S. Anand (conservation architect), Hemanth Kumar (conservation architect), Dinesh (Chairman of Builders Association of India), Sandhya Dasharath (wife of Dinesh and founder trustee of Namma Mysuru), Prof. Shafi Ahmed (history professor), Sushma Benjamin (artist), Veerash, K.N. Kalyan, Anuradha, Mallesh, Sriraj, Niharika and Ramesh (of Namma Mysuru Foundation), N.R. Ashok (Mysuru District Heritage Committee member and conservationist), Kemparaje Urs (Chairman of Ursu Mandali), Prakash Pramod (engineer and member, Builders Association of India).

Prof. N.S. Rangaraju told Star of Mysore that the old INTACH Mysuru Chapter has been reconstituted. “We had INTACH here 10 years ago and that has been disbanded now and we have new and diverse members from different backgrounds who are directly and indirectly associated with heritage and architecture,” he added.