India's gateway city to the future kept its date with World Heritage Day on Sunday. Mumbai, where buildings of the past struggle for space among the futuristic skyscrapers and shopping complexes, is, ironically also the first city in the country to have set up a Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC).

But conservationists have faulted the existing heritage policy, saying it is doing little to prevent listed structures from crumbling for want of maintenance.

The Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay 1995 aim at the `conservationof listed buildings, areas, artefacts, structures and precincts of historical, aesthetical, architectural and cultural value'. The HCC, which has a tenure of three years, functions as an advisory member to the municipal commissioner on the development or re-development of heritage buildings or precincts. The committee also has the task of updating the list of heritage buildings or precincts by altering, deleting, modifying or adding to the current list. The final regulations have 529 buildings and 15 milestones on its list.

The first step towards looking into the issue of heritage was initiated in 1991, when the state government set up a draft Heritage Conservation Committee, headed by former municipal commissioner Jamshed Kanga. Yet, after all these years, there are several buildings listed as heritage structures which were initially reserved in the Development Plan (DP).

The HCC doesn't provide money to the owners of listed buildings like the privately owned Esplanade and Taraporewala mansions in southMumbai for their upkeep. Also, the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) given to an owner of a listed building as compensation for the heritage building is not bound by legal provisions for the building's maintenance. Owners get TDR only in the case of grade three structures, which can be demolished or redeveloped, and not in the case of grade one or two buildings, which have to be maintained at any cost, points out Harshad Bhatia, a former member of the Kanga committee.

Bhatia, who is conducting an ongoing private study into heritage sites, has listed several flaws in the policy. Furniture or artefacts, such as the privately owned gateway of the Bella Vista bungalow at G Deshmukh Marg and the Prince's triumphal arch at Mahalakshmi, listed by the HCC, are also not being compensated for.

``You either de-list a building if it is not economically viable or you ensure its dereservation from the DP. The HCC has the power to recommend delisting and dereserving. So where is the problem?'' queried Bhatia, afounding partner in the firm of city-based PACE (Planning + Architecture + Conservation + Environment).

Bhatia also pointed out that some listed buildings have been targetted for demolition. ``A building in Khotachiwadi is notified in the list and is supposedly marked for a municipal retail market at this precise location as per the DP. The house has been demolished with the approval of HCC and is being developed with a seven storeyed building, '' said Bhatia.

Bhatia also said the number of items in the Heritage List could even touch 1,000. This, he says, is because certain areas are listed as having a cluster of heritage buildings and artefacts, such as Banganga, Matharpakady and Gamdevi and Khotachiwadi .

This reflects in the final heritage list, says Bhatia. The list, for instance still speaks of Sahyadri (the state government's guesthouse at Walkeshwar which was restructured in 1993) as being built in the `20a or`30s despite it being a new structure.

A former member of the D M Sukhtankarcommittee, Brinda Somaya, said the members on the committee need to be paid a salary rather than given an honorarium. Added D M Sukhtankar, chairperson of the HCC - the tenure of which ended only recently - nobody has pointed out the listed buildings which are also under the DP. While agreeing that a fund to disburse money to the owners is necessary, Sukhtankar felt that keeping a vigil on listed structures is the municipal corporation's job.