Three years after the formation of Heritage Conservation Committee, the first draft list of 79 heritage sites in and around the city is likely to be notified by the state government by next month. A Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority official told Express that the Heritage Conservation Committee has till now collected the details of the sites and this has been cleared by the authority meeting conducted last month.
The list will now will taken up for public consultation by the end of this month before being sent to the government for notification. He said that the heritage conservation committee has identified 500 sites and till now details have been collected about 79. “It is a laborious work as all these sites require minute details,” the official said. He said the second and third list would also be prepared soon.
The authorities have also recommended to the government seeking extension of the tenure of non-official members of the Heritage Conservation Committee and reappoint them for another term of three years. Chennai has a number of Heritage Buildings which need to be conserved. Development
Regulations of Chennai Metropolitan Area form part of the Second Master Plan that provide for conservation of Heritage Buildings through regulatory process. As per the regulations, any person who wants to make alterations, repairs, renovation or demolition of the listed heritage buildings have to obtain prior permission of CMDA. The criterions for listing heritage buildings include period of construction, trends exhibited and historical events or notable persons associated with it.