Four years after bringing in a new law to protect heritage in Telangana, the State government on Tuesday issued a notification constituting State Heritage Authority, District Heritage and Precincts Committees, and Greater Hyderabad Heritage Precincts Committee.
The notification under Section 6 (1), 8 (1) & 9 (1) of the Telangana Heritage (Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Maintenance) Act 2017 was issued by Heritage Telangana.
The apex State Heritage Authority would be headed by chief secretary, while the district level committees will be headed by the district collector. The GHHPC committee will have the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner as chairman with the Metropolitan Commissioner of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority as the co-chairman. All the three committees will be have two co-opted members who are ‘experts from archaeology, heritage and history background’.
The heritage committees have a key role to play in protection and decision-making about built heritage and heritage sites. In the absence of these committees, the state has lost a number of heritage sites in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas.
