500 & counting: Flurry of reactions to heritage list

Mumbai: Residents of Mumbai are making themselves heard over the new draft heritage list, and how.      Already, the civic body has received more than 500 suggestions and objections from Mumbaikars concerned over the proposed grant of heritage status to their properties.      The figure is expected to rise considerably as citizens have time till September 30 to send their suggestions/objections to the draft list.      In comparison, the citizens' response to the call for suggestions on the civic body's open space policy received a lukewarm response. The BMC got only around 100 responses from Mumbaikars in this regard.      Explaining the trend, a senior civic official said: "Inclusion on the heritage list affects citizens directly. Hence, we have seen such a reaction."      Meanwhile, there seems to be a lot of political interest in the matter as a number of politicians have also participated in the process of providing feedback.      The draft proposes to include 947 structures and 47 precincts to the new heritage list. However, several discrepancies have been pointed out as there has been a delay of five years for the list to be published. It was compiled in 2005 and completed in 2007. In the process, several structures have been knocked out or been replaced by high-rises.      "The idea behind having suggestions and objections is to address the anomalies. The list, which will come out after all the citizen responses are studied, will be final," said V Ranganathan, chairman of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC).      While some citizens have said they do not want the heritage status, many have asked for incentives and funds to maintain their structures. Some others have agreed to the grade being proposed for their properties.      A number of structures that have been included in the draft are from the suburbs, which were left out iof the existing list. "We want the MHCC to also tell us what incentives we will be entitled to if our building is included on the new list,"said Harish Mehta, trustee of a 120-yearold temple in Ghatkopar that features on the list.  CITIZEN VOICE  The new draft list has a total of 947 structures and 47 precincts  The existing list has 633 listed structures with 15 precincts  The BMC has received over 500 suggestions/objections  The last day for sending suggestions/objections is  September 30