South Mumbai residents want heritage tag off most locations in D ward

A large majority of residents of the D ward, which covers the plush Malabar Hill, Walkeshwar, Bhulabhai Desai road and Napean Sea road areas, among others, want the heritage tag off most properties in the ward.Removal of the heritage tag will make redevelopment of the properties easier, local residents know.In the proposed heritage list of 2012, the Mahalakshmi temple and its surrounding area, the Gamdevi area, the Khareghat colony and a few Jain temples were among structures which were in the heritage list.In a hearing carried out on Thursday by the heritage review committee led by former state chief secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar, residents objected to keeping the Mahalakshmi area as a heritage precinct."Most of them agreed to retaining the Mahalakshmi temple as a heritage structure but they do not want the precinct in the list," Afzalpurkar said.He added, "Even for the Gamdevi precinct, people want to retain Mani Bhavan as a heritage structure, but want relaxation of norms for buildings in the surrounding areas. People want areas like Khareghat colony completely out of the heritage list. They said the area doesn't have any heritage relevance."The review committee has been conducting hearing of suggestions and objections of wards A to E. This was the third hearing for D ward.