Only 27 of 65 villas left in Khotachiwadi
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The move
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MUMBAI:
Even as two-thirds of Khotachiwadi have been demolished to make way for
multi-storey towers, BMC's decision to include hundreds of private
bungalows on the new heritage protection list has raised eyebrows within
this enclave.
"Where was the government, BMC and the heritage committee when dozens of old bungalows were bulldozed by developers in our precinct? In fact, the BMC granted permission for an eight-storey building on a 10-ft road. When we protested, it said it had proposed to widen the road by cutting through our bungalows," says an old-time resident, James Ferreira.
The state government removed the development of grade-III precincts, including gaothans, from the purview of the heritage committee a few years ago. The move caused consternation among conservationists who are fighting to preserve the "architectural grain" of the city. "Monuments like Victoria Terminus or the city forts are but a handful of visible heritage structures. It is these stylized bungalows across gaothans in Bandra, Andheri, Santa Cruz and Khotachiwadi that constitute the 'grain'. Now that builders need not approach the heritage committee before demolishing them they will be lost forever," says an activist.
Conservationists and residents are helpless in the face of this amendment. The old bungalows are expensive to maintain and builders are persuading owners to move out in exchange for a few crore rupees. In Khotachiwadi, barely 27 of the original 65 Portuguese-style houses remain.
Built in a time when the Arabian Sea lapped the shores of Girgaum, Khotachiwadi is a 200-year-old colony that once nestled amid coconut groves. It had row upon row of beautiful villas whose white verandahs and open halls were offset by red Mangalore tile roofs.
In 2007, an architectural firm, URBZ Group, engaged architecture students in a study of Khotachiwadi that lasted three years. URBZ's Rahul Srivastava says, "We prepared architectural drawings and a short film to show how gaothans are part of the urban and social fabric. Khotachiwadi has the softness associated with Portuguese architecture. It is part of a larger network of villages in Mumbai. In fact, simply look through BEST bus stops listed Worli village or Marol village and they will lead you to more than 150 villages in Mumbai that are proper habitats. They are not slums as some people believe."
Its report says some chawls or wadis, a cluster of three or four buildings with a courtyard, are over 150 years old. Families have roots going back to more than four generations. "What use is the future if we keep nothing of the past," says Ferreira.
"Where was the government, BMC and the heritage committee when dozens of old bungalows were bulldozed by developers in our precinct? In fact, the BMC granted permission for an eight-storey building on a 10-ft road. When we protested, it said it had proposed to widen the road by cutting through our bungalows," says an old-time resident, James Ferreira.
The state government removed the development of grade-III precincts, including gaothans, from the purview of the heritage committee a few years ago. The move caused consternation among conservationists who are fighting to preserve the "architectural grain" of the city. "Monuments like Victoria Terminus or the city forts are but a handful of visible heritage structures. It is these stylized bungalows across gaothans in Bandra, Andheri, Santa Cruz and Khotachiwadi that constitute the 'grain'. Now that builders need not approach the heritage committee before demolishing them they will be lost forever," says an activist.
Conservationists and residents are helpless in the face of this amendment. The old bungalows are expensive to maintain and builders are persuading owners to move out in exchange for a few crore rupees. In Khotachiwadi, barely 27 of the original 65 Portuguese-style houses remain.
Built in a time when the Arabian Sea lapped the shores of Girgaum, Khotachiwadi is a 200-year-old colony that once nestled amid coconut groves. It had row upon row of beautiful villas whose white verandahs and open halls were offset by red Mangalore tile roofs.
In 2007, an architectural firm, URBZ Group, engaged architecture students in a study of Khotachiwadi that lasted three years. URBZ's Rahul Srivastava says, "We prepared architectural drawings and a short film to show how gaothans are part of the urban and social fabric. Khotachiwadi has the softness associated with Portuguese architecture. It is part of a larger network of villages in Mumbai. In fact, simply look through BEST bus stops listed Worli village or Marol village and they will lead you to more than 150 villages in Mumbai that are proper habitats. They are not slums as some people believe."
Its report says some chawls or wadis, a cluster of three or four buildings with a courtyard, are over 150 years old. Families have roots going back to more than four generations. "What use is the future if we keep nothing of the past," says Ferreira.
