[Reader-list] DECLARE R.K. NARAYAN'S HOUSE AS 'HERITAGE' MONUMENT: MCC

[Vinay Baindur]

http://starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=news&item=29571


  DECLARE R.K. NARAYAN'S HOUSE AS 'HERITAGE' MONUMENT: MCC

*SOM effect: Demolition stayed*

Mysore, Sept. 6 (KK&KMC)- The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has sought help
from the Heritage Department and the Kannada & Culture Department to declare
the house of legendary novelist R.K. Narayan in Yadavagiri here as a
Heritage Monument, provide financial assistance for buying the house and
take up measures for the building's conservation and development as a
museum.

It has also urged the Urban Development Department to introduce a Heritage
Tax on all such properties with heritage value so that the MCC can identify
and protect them.

At a meeting of officials held at the MCC Commissioner’s office this
morning, MCC Commissioner K.S. Raikar said that the demolition had been
stopped yesterday itself and a show-cause notice had been issued to MCC
Assistant Commissioner Thimmappa for permitting to demolish the house.

"There are many such assets in the city with heritage value that are in
private ownership," he said and felt the need for resources to preserve them
for posterity.

"R.K. Narayan’s house has not yet been declared as a heritage monument," he
said, adding that he had written to the Heritage Commissioner to officially
demarcate such assets as "heritage" so that their sale or demolition can be
checked by MCC. "If not, there is no provision in the law to prevent
builders from buying and rebuilding on such properties," Raikar added.

*Demolition stayed*

Meanwhile, the MCC has stayed the demolition of the house where R.K. Narayan
lived and penned his literary masterpieces for more than 20 years.

The authorities concerned, reacting positively to the report published in
Star of Mysore yesterday, halted the demolition work that had commenced
yesterday morning. A builder who bought the House No. 15 on Vivekananda Road
from R.K. Narayan's heirs — granddaughter Bhuvaneshwari aka Minni living in
Chennai and grandson Srinivasa living in the US — intended to replace the
two-storey house on a 120’x 80’ site with an eight-apartment building.

The timely intervention of MCC Commissioner K.S. Raikar — based on the
report in SOM which served as an eye-opener — prevented the building from
being fully demolished by the workers. Following his orders, Chowdegowda,
Joint Director of the Town Planning Wing, MCC, visited the spot in the
evening and directed the contractor to stop the demolition work till further
orders. The contractor told the officials that necessary clearance and
permission had been secured from the MCC. However, the officials directed
him to withdraw his workers from the site till further orders.

Raikar told SOM this morning that a report about the house and the proposal
to conserve it as a heritage monument will be sent to the Heritage
Department. "I will also speak to the Heritage Commissioner about the
proposal. The heritage department is exclusively set up to deal with such
cases. MCC cannot take the ultimate decision in this regard. Besides,
resources have to be mobilised," he said.

The engineers at the spot said even if the MCC had issued permission to
demolish the house, it could be withdrawn and the building license issued to
construct the apartment cancelled.

Prof. K.C. Belliappa, former VC of Rajiv Gandhi University, Itana-gar and a
resident of Mysore, who knew Narayan personally, opined that the house
should be preserved and converted into a museum. "It should be seen as a
slice of heritage and not as a piece of real estate," he said.