Up In Flames

FOR occupants of heritage structures, the message is clear: death could be just a short-circuit away. With monsoons around the corner and no exposure to fire-fighting systems or fire drills, it's a warning that the occupants can ill afford to ignore. Witness the fire on the second floor of the 200-year-old General Post Office (GPO) building last fortnight. While no one was killed, the roof was burnt down and valuable records on the premises of the chief post-master general and the postal services director were destroyed. 

The busy Fort area in South Bombay, housing over 30 per cent of Bombay's heritage buildings, has stood witness to towering infernos—the gutting of the Alice Building, Handloom House, Jhulelal Mansion, Raj Bahadur Mansion and the Erach Shaw Building even as late as 1994.

"Public heritage buildings or those which house institutions have better security systems. The owners look after their own premises if not the entire building. The problem lies with private buildings—where the old Rent Act has made it impossible for landlords to instal adequate security measures," says Rajan Jayakar, solicitor and finance secretary, Asiatic Society.

Heritage buildings like the The Prince of Wales Museum have placed smoke sensors at strategic spots; the Standard Chartered heritage building has fire-fighting equipment while the 100-year-old Brihan mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) building has installed a sprinkler system in the tower dome which houses historical records. "The BMC has an arrangement with the fire brigade under which the entire fire-fighting system is operated every week," says V.P. Mehendale, assistant engineer in charge of the BMC head office and heritage conservation.

The fires, however, have occurred mainly on the left side of the Dadabhai Naoroji Road towards the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus). Buildings on this side are more clustered as opposed to the other end where structures are interspersed with bylanes. "Located on narrow plots, fire spreads easily in these areas as the buildings are inaccessible to the fire brigade. The problem is compounded as the beams, rafters and flooring are made entirely of wood. In fact, in 1803, the entire bazaar area was wiped out," says Vikas Dilaware, conservation architect. History could repeat itself, given the modern over-utilisation of area, space and services. The situation is especially precarious in the high-density Fort area which houses commercial establishments. Though structurally and materially the buildings were designed for specific purposes, mezzanine floors, illegal meters, chaotic electrification and overloading due to computers and air-conditioners in carved out office spaces threaten the safety of these structures.

 A misplaced sense of history is another hazard. Conservation to some landlords is "renovation, not restoration". The GPO was given a facelift when it celebrated its bicentenary in 1994, but even so it could not escape the short-circuit caused by an air-conditioner fault. "I call it arbitrary restoration," says Sanjeev Bajaj, conservation architect. "Funds would be channelised to restore the dome while leaving electrification and the security systems untouched."

 Experts believe that the need of the hour is a common consultancy unit between all heritage buildings which can work in an advisory capacity and also have the authority, either through legislation or by administrative order, to ensure that owners of heritage buildings take steps to protect their legacy. Some feel that incentives must be given to heritage building owners as is done abroad and that property taxes should be waived for nothing can be done without a little compensation. With the New Heritage Conservation Plan coming into effect on April 21, 1995, the move towards heritage conservation at the government level has taken root. But the need for it to filter down, instilling a sense of history in the city's inhabitants, remains. 

As Mehendale sums up: "There was certainly no congestion and narrowness of vision in designing these structures, as is evident in their sheer height and grandeur. But the British architects and the masses then felt strongly about aesthetics. Therefore, any steps towards the protection of these structures should involve the public."

 However, there are as yet no signs of a change in attitude. And although, the losses are estimated to be more than a crore, the fire-fighting equipment in the undamaged section of the GPO has not yet been checked. The custodians of the heritage buildings would do well to learn the value of the past or else be condemned to repeat its fiery lessons.