‘Shivaji Park heritage decision aids bldrs’

Mumbai: Declaring structures and areas as heritage in Mumbai is like dressing up a malnourished child with gold ornaments, states a PIL filed in the Bombay high court.      Filed by activist Ketan Tirodkar, the PIL seeks a state CID probe into the "atrocious and arbitrary" policy decision to list buildings in Shivaji Park and parts of Mumbai as heritage structures. The petition alleged the conspiracy "under the guise of policy decision has been funded by some real estate developers whose towers in areas adjacent to the heritage areas shall fetch fortunes". The PIL has sought direction to the BMC to suspend its heritage list till completion of the probe.      The petition said 948 buildings on the declared list were built between 1930 and 1950 and the residents cannot bear redevelopment costs. Besides, developers do not see any redevelopment potential here as there is no FSI to match the market economics. "The structures may come down anytime as their architectures are unlike Mumbai University's or the HC's. The state, too, has not come up with any safety measures policy for these structures," it stated.      A division bench of Justice P V Hardas and Justice P N Deshmukh heard the petition and directed it be listed as a civil PIL. Locals don't want tag T he panel set up by the BMC to gather feedback on the new extended heritage list met 100 Shivaji Park locals, who objected to the area's tagging as a heritage structure. TNN