Dying Heritage
THIS heritage house on the banks of Jhelum at Abi Guzar is decaying with each passing day as the government has failed to conserve such old landmark structures. Leave apart restoration of the heritage lot some of them have even been dismantled in this historic City of immense tourism potential.

THE HOUSE
 The house owned by Qureshi family is believed to be over a century old and has been admired my many for its eye-catching colonial architecture.
 Observers opine that the house used to serve as a Tax Post till 1892 during the then Dogra rule.
 “River navigation used to be the main means of transportation in the City of Srinagar and goods would be received or dispatched from these tax posts,” says former Director General Tourism and expert on heritage, Muhammad Saleem Beg.
 Beg terms the building owned by the Qureshis as a landmark adding that its conservation could be of huge tourist attraction.

OWNERS PRIDE
 Muhammad Ibraheem Qureshi, who owns the house along with some other family members, has been living there for decades.
 But Ibhareem Qureshi didn’t repair his house because the facelift to upkeep the building grandeur in line with the heritage looks would cost more.
 “Had it been routine repairs, I would have definitely done it. But because the glory of the house needs to be restored on heritage lines, the job becomes highly skillful which will obviously require more of expertise and other resources,” said Qureshi while hinting towards his limitations.

THE POLITICS
 In 2004, the then PDP led coalition government during its much appreciated Jhelum beautification project, eyed on the house to get it repaired.
 “But the plan ended with the PDP regime as its successors stared ignoring the Jhelum beautification simply because they didn’t want to carry forward the endeavour of the rival regime,” said a senior official requesting not to be named.

THE PROPOSALS
 INTACH, a prominent organization, which has been into heritage conservation across the country, as per insiders, submitted at least two proposals to restore the Abi Guzar house glory.
 “But both the proposals were trashed,” said a tourism official adding that some other departments were asked to look for resources of getting the work done themselves.
 “Basically it was a move aimed to sleep over the issue till the beautification buzz would die down with time,” he added.
  Sources said the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) had consented to do the work.
 “It(SDA) was subsequently asked to do the ground work, particularly negotiate with the owners of the house to fix modalities for the facelift,” they said.
 But no deal ever matured. The house owner admits this. “Officials from various departments including  (Srinagar) Development Authority approached us with proposals but nothing fruitful came forth,” said Ibraheem Qureshi.
 He said even though the family ruled out the sale of the house to the government, it had agreed for the repairs.
 “We never had any reservations in getting the house facelifted, and the same we conveyed to the officials… But the fact remains that nothing matured from the government side and the house continues to decay.”

BOTTOM-LINE
 A few years ago, during a mapping of Srinagar City to identify heritage structures, the INTACH in its report had identified some 10 buildings on the Jhelum banks for conservation.
 But while the government is yet to decide on the conservation, it allowed the dismantling of a huge heritage building: the Lal Ded School in Shahr-e-Khaas.
 In 2008, despite stiff public resentment, the 3-storeyed building, seen as the biggest European architectural structure in Kashmir, was razed to rubble.
 Observers opine that the government should wake up to the issue or the City’s heritage buildings, including the Abi Guzar house would meet fate similar to what the Lal Ded School met.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 16 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST