Visakhapatnam :

For all those who thought that Visakhapatnam was a sleepy, fishing hamlet once upon a time, you’ve got another think coming. For, historic evidences and inscriptions point to the fact Vizag was a busy sea trade centre and a home to rich merchants as early as the 11th century.

Also, much before the revolt of 1857, it was in the Old Town area of Vizag that the first mutiny of Indian sepoys against the Britishers took place in 1788, in which a British officer was killed, something that hardly anybody is aware of. The area also housed India’s first school exclusively for young widows in the early 20th century.

Several such unknown or little-known fascinating historical nuggets are all set to entice tourists and visitors to the neglected and dingy Old Town area of the Port City as it is all set to feature in the city’s tourism map with the civic authorities finally allocating a few crores of rupees for conservation of heritage and a makeover for the Old Town under the new city development plan (CDP).

Planning experts from Ahmedabad also recently undertook a heritage walk and chalked out plans to take up the required development along with various stakeholders and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach).

After drawing flak from all quarters for demolishing the heritage Kurupam Market tower, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) seems to be finally trying to make amends by allocating funds to revamp and conserve heritage structures of Vizag, with a special thrust on the Old Town area.

GVMC commissioner M V Satyanarayana said, “We are in the process of developing the entire city and conserving its heritage structures. As most of these are in the Old Town area, we have kept aside funds from certain sources to utilize exclusively for this purpose.”

Elaborating on the latest developments, P V Prasad, convener, Intach, Vizag chapter, said, “In the new CDP, a generous amount of funds have been set aside for heritage conservation by GVMC, something that was not taken into account in the last plan. Also, planners from Ahmedabad’s CEPT University (Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology) have taken up the task of city development and are planning accordingly after they undertook a heritage walk in the Old Town recently.”

“We are soon going to have another meeting this month with GVMC, VUDA, archaeology department and other stakeholders to figure out how to roll out the plan and give a total makeover to the Old Town so as to attract tourists and visitors to the sites steeped in history,” he added.

The Old Town heritage walk includes a journey through the colonial era alleys that house century-old historic building and spots such as the Town Hall, European cemetery, Queen Victoria’s pavilion, Queen Mary’s Schools, St John Church and School, St Aloysius School, Light House, Isak Medina Dargah, Abu Sarang Street, Lavender Canal and other heritage buildings. “Some of these, like the hill-top dargah and mosque date back to the mid-13th century,” averred Jayshree Hatangadi, an Intach member.

Further, Vuda vice-chairman N Yuvaraj pointed out that proposals for setting up a heritage conservation committee for the four north coastal districts in Vizag is being sent to the state government on Friday after collecting nominations from Andhra University, GVMC and the Collectorate, which would then be followed by a government order for formation of the committee.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / by Sulogna Mehta / January 24th, 2014