Mumbai: While the UNESCO has conferred ‘World Heritage Site’ status to some of the Marine Drive buildings, several of them are yet to be marked as heritage structures in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s new Development Plan (DP). Environment act-
ivists have demanded their immediate inclusion in the DP as heritage structures. The Victorian and Art Deco buildings on Marine Drive, also known as Queen’s Necklace, have earned the prestigious UNESCO heritage label.
However, Watchdog Foundation, an NGO, has claimed that several of these buildings are yet to be included in the heritage list.
In a letter written to the civic body, the NGO has demanded that the proposed coastal line be realigned along with the existing Marine Drive to preserve the beauty of Queen’s Necklace.
“Interestingly, barring a few buildings, as per the attached list of heritage buildings, most of buildings are not declared as heritage. Hence, we demand that both the state government and the BMC should take steps to declare the entire stretch of art deco buildings on Marine Drive as Heritage Grade I. Since July 2012, many building as per attached list, are pending to be included in the Heritage List. The BMC has surreptitiously dropped marking of all heritage structures even the same were duly marked in 1991 and 2015 DP Sheets. Why this secrecy?” asked Godfrey Pimenta in the letter.
According to the NGO, buildings like Parsi Gymkhana, Gandhi building, Marina Mansion, Sekseria, Islam Gymkhana, PJ Hindu Gymkhana, Wilson College, Grant Medical College, Police Gymkhana, Meghdoot, Parijat, Govind Mahal are yet to be included in the heritage list.
“Interestingly, these buildings were marked as heritage in the earlier DPs of 1961, 1991 and 2015,” said Mr Pimenta.
Despite repeated attempts, civic DP officials were unavailable for comment.
