GVMC told to protect London Mission Church

Visakhapatnam: Local traders in in the Old Town and the former civil servant EAS Sarma opposed the road widening works by taking some portion of land belonging to London Mission Memorial Church, a heritage structure.

In a letter addressed to commissioner of GVMC M Harinaryanan, Sarma said corporation should not widen the roads at all in the Old Town area where there are a number of heritage buildings that reflect the historical past of the city.

In most western cities, the authorities do not resort to change the character of their heritage structures nor do they resort to indiscriminate widening of the roads.

Sarma said municipalities should give up the idea of changing the width of the roads and need to remove illegal encroachments.

The church and several other structures in the Old Town area are heritage structures that need to be protected, not interfered with.

He requested the commissioner to revisit the idea of road widening and not force institutions such as the London Mission Memorial Church to part with portions of their heritage properties for road widening.

The road widening projects undertaken by GVMC are mostly regressive, people-unfriendly and highly arbitrary. Citing an example, the former civil servant said GVMC and VUDA acquired around five acres of valuable land from the old Central Jail area in the guise of road widening, but the portion so carved out of the jail land has since been handed over to affluent and commercially run educational institutions to park their buses.

Had GVMC and VUDA listened to the advice of the civil society, the public park located there would have been larger in its extent to the benefit of the public.

In most cases of private lands acquired for road widening, GVMC has failed to pay compensation and the land oustees have had to seek judicial intervention, he added.