Heritage proposal list draws 2,400 suggestions so far

The civic body closed its doors to public suggestions and objections to the proposed heritage list on Saturday.

The civic body closed its doors to public suggestions and objections to the proposed heritage list on Saturday.

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While officials from the development plan department said that they had counted 1,200 recommendations up to Friday, the counting was still on. The updated figure as of Monday is 2,400.

“We have only counted the suggestions and objections that were received up to September 27, which added up to 2400,” said Lalita Gupta, municipal architect. “As the department is short-staffed and the responses are submitted to the dispatch section, it takes time to separate the heritage responses from other submissions,” she added. She added that the counting process would end in the next ten days.

According to V Ranganathan, chairperson, Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), the decision regarding the procedure after counting the submissions was on the agenda of the committee’s upcoming meeting. “Now that the public objections and suggestions have come in, we will have to take a call on how they will be reviewed. We will also have to organise a public hearing for those who have objected to the proposed heritage list,” said Ranganathan.

“As it has been almost two decades since the first heritage list was notified, people should be given their right to represent their case on both the existing and the proposed heritage list,” said Sharad Upasani, former chairperson, MHCC, who prepared and submitted the list to the civic body in 2008.