The salient features of the Telangana Heritage Act 2017 were discussed at a high level meeting held at secretariat. Speaking on the occasion Chief Secretary Dr S K Joshi said that the Telangana State Heritage Authority will be formed under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. Similarly Heritage committees for GHMC and district heritage committees for all districts should be constituted immediately. The idea is to inventorise all heritage structures in the state and come up with an action plan for restoration and taking up repairs of all heritage structures in the state.
The Principal Secretary Municipal Administration Arvind Kumar, HMDA Commissioner Janardhan Reddy Hyderabad Collector Raghunandan Rao and Director Heritage Visalatchy attended the meeting.
Chief Secretary said that creation of Telangana Heritage Fund would be taken up which would enable private individuals, private funds, the funds earmarked by companies towards Corporate Social Responsibility can be pooled up and companies desirous of taking up heritage activities can be dovetailed with Telangana Heritage Fund. The fund will be used for restoration of heritage structures. The fund shall also enable receiving funds meant for heritage restoration duly complying with the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Chief Secretary asked GHMC to identify the most vulnerable monuments and heritage structures and take immediate steps, including fencing to protect these structures. It was also decided to freeze the status quo on usage of all monuments with immediate effect.
The Director heritage Visalatchy requested for providing separate security wing from Telangana Reserve Police for security and protection of heritage structures and monuments. The Municipal department will play the lead role. It was decided to hold the next meeting after six weeks .
