Disaster in making at other heritage spots

CHENNAI: The fire at the Chepauk Palace in the wee hours of Monday has once again raised questions about the mismanagement and lack of maintenance of heritage structures in Chennai. Activists have strongly criticised bad maintenance of the Chepauk Palace and also raised a red flag over a number of other heritage structures that are in a state of dangerous disrepair.“This is by no means the first heritage structure that has caught fire in Chennai,” says historian Sriram Venkatakrishnan. “The problem is not just extremely poor maintenance. There is a fundamental lack of understanding on what needs to be done to conserve a building,” he adds.Sriram says a number of heritage structures suffer at the hands of engineers of the Public Works Department  who, while they may be good engineers otherwise, lack the knowledge on how to restore heritage structures. “First, we need to have these buildings assessed by specialist heritage conservationists. Then we need to put in place a system to monitor, restore and maintain these buildings,” says Sriram.He also criticised the Tamil Nadu government’s Heritage Conservation Committee for doing little. “The committee is full of bureaucrats. Most of the members have not even visited the sites, so how can they be expected to understand what is required?” asks Sriram.He also listed heritage structures in the city that are close to collapse (see list).