The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) razed a heritage building that is nearly 100 years old, within the Murphy Town Market, to make way for an Indira Canteen. On Monday morning, shopkeepers were shocked to see the building reduced to a rubble.
Hoysala Nagar (Ward 80) was one among 16 wards where the civic body had failed to find a suitable site for the canteen.
The demolition has drawn the ire of heritage activists. Until recently, the stone building housed a public library that was relocated two weeks ago.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad defended the move saying the building was dilapidated and could have collapsed any time.
The civic body’s argument that the Murphy Town Market building was dilapidated and unused, and hence razed to make way for an Indira Canteen does not hold much water.
The single-storey stone building with high ceiling housed the City Central Library till very recently. Heritage experts have pointed out that the building could have been refurbished and used as a canteen instead of being brought down.
Abdul Haleem, secretary, Murphy Town Market Traders Welfare Association, said that the library was shifted two weeks ago to another building two streets away. He said the building is a sturdy stone structure that is neither unused nor dilapidated.
A. Anand, a local resident, has been saddened by the demolition. He has been a regular visitor to the market and the library since 1983. “The demolition and replacing it with an Indira Canteen would change the market itself,” he lamented.
Murphy Town Market is among the heritage buildings in the city. In fact, BBMP wanted to demolish 13 markets to build multi-level car parking in 2014, but backed off in the face of virulent protests by citizens.
The market is said to have been built in 1913 and has 28 stores mainly selling meat. Mr. Haleem's V.M. Stores is the oldest of all the stores in the market.
But Meera Iyer, co-convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Bengaluru Chapter, said, “There is ambiguity on the year in which the market was built. Some say it was 1920.”
Nevertheless, the demolition has left heritage conservation enthusiasts fuming.
“This was actually a great opportunity for adaptive reuse, ie, the building could very well have been repurposed as a canteen without having to reduce it to rubble. We hope governments would realise that heritage can be meaningful, economically and otherwise. Clearly, Bengaluru really needs a heritage law, at least to protect government buildings from the government’s bulldozers,” says Ms. Iyer.
The way in which the building was demolished has also come under severe criticism.
Mr. Haleem said that civic officials came to the market around 2 a.m. and demolished the building before they had opened their shops. “If it was not a heritage structure and indeed an unused dilapidated building, why raze it in the dead of the night?”
Policy to safeguard heritage buildings
A proposed amendment to the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961 to place restrictions on demolishing heritage buildings is pending before the Urban Development Department since 2010. Satyaprakash Varanasi, former convenor of INTACH - Bengaluru Chapter who worked on the recommendations, said that there is no documentation or identification of heritage buildings. “All heritage buildings need to be identified and listed out. The government cannot buy out or compensate all heritage structures. But some restrictions need to be placed,” he said.
Murphy Town
Settlement started in 1865
Then known as Knox Pet
Renamed Murphy Town in 1937
W.H. Murphy was instrumental in improving sanitary conditions in Austin Town and other suburbs
Murphy Town Market
Built in 1913
Oldest shop is V.M. Stores
Market has 28 stores
Mainly meat shops and grocery stores
Single-storey stone building
Heritage buildings and government
Demolished Sir M. Visveswaraya’s house to build V.V. Towers
Demolished part of Chikkajala fort to widen road