For the first time, BMC to appoint private agency to maintain heritage structures

For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to hand over the maintenance of heritage structures in the city to a private agency

For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to hand over the maintenance of heritage structures in the city to a private agency. Earlier, the civic body would appoint private agencies to restore heritage structures but this is the first time that the private agency will also be responsible for their upkeep and security.

For the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to hand over the maintenance of heritage structures in the city to a private agency. (HT PHOTO)

The structures to be maintained include various pyaus, fountains and statues made of bronze and marble, which have been identified as heritage structures of different grades by the BMC heritage department. Some of the 27 structures the BMC has chosen are - Flora Fountain, Fitzgerald Fountain, and the statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Swami Vivekananda at Gateway of India. In a bid to preserve their heritage value, the BMC restored some of these structures, in recent years, including the 154-year-old Fitzgerald Fountain.

A structure gets a heritage tag not only for its age but also based on its cultural and historical relevance as well as its location. Senior officials of BMC’s heritage cell said that so far, no contract was awarded to agencies specifically for maintaining heritage structures. “Earlier we used to award contracts only for restoration work, but henceforth all the new contracts will have the clause for maintenance as well,” an official said.

The cost of the contract is ₹1.03 crore and it will be awarded to an agency for a period of three years. The civic official also specified that in order to be eligible for the contract, the agency should have an aesthetic sense, understand the cultural importance of these structures and must have prior experience in maintaining historical properties.

Some of the clauses in the tender would include cleaning the structures, removing algae from the fountains and filtering the water, polishing the coating of statues and carrying out regular scientific inspections. “All these structures are over 100 years old and most of them are located in areas that have high tourist footfall. If regular maintenance is not done, then these structures will again lose their charm and all the resources spent on restoring them would go in vain,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

The BMC is in the process of restoring four century-old pyaus inside the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan (Byculla Zoo). The G/North ward office has also taken up the task of renovating existing pyaus at Shivaji Park, Dadar. The officials of the heritage cell said that the pyaus in Dadar will be maintained by G/N office while the pyaus at Byculla zoo will be maintained by the agency that is restoring it.

The proposal of issuing work order was tabled for final approval at the civic standing committee earlier on November 24. However due to the ongoing code of conduct imposed due to the MLC elections the committee got adjourned and normal operation of the committee is expected to resume after December 14. “A day after the proposal is cleared by the standing committee, the work order will be issued by us,” said the official.

Conservation architect Vikas Dilawari, who is known for restoring various heritage buildings and structures including the Flora Fountain, Wellington Fountain and Mulji Jetha Fountain said that it’s important to appoint experts for the maintenance of these heritage structures. “The advantage of appointing consultants for maintaining these structures is that they have a knowledge on how to do the job perfectly. If those who are carrying out the maintenance are not properly trained or sensitized, then they can damage the objects during the process. The BMC has taken the right step in appointing consultants because this will keep the quality of structure from deteriorating in the long run.”

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Some of the structures

Fitzgerald Fountain (Marine Lines)

Flora Fountain (Colaba)

Bandstand (Cooperage Garden)

Devidas Purushottam Kothari Pyau (Balchand Heerachand Marg)

Rajiv Gandhi Statue (Cooperage Garden)

Hutatma Smarak

Lal Bahadur Shastri statue (SP Mukherjee Chowk)

Ferozeshah Mehta’s statue (BMC HQ)

Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s statue (Madame Cama Marg)

Govind Ranade statue (Veer Nariman Road)

Dinshaw Maneckji Petit statue (DN Road)