Narmad Yuvak Mandal offers to look after Hope Bridge

SURAT: Probably the most difficult thing in heritage conservation is the day-to-day care of the structure, as is evident from the way the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) looks after poet Narmad's home in Amliran, Wadi faliya.
On May 1, 2010 when the city was celebrating Gujarat Gaurav divas, visiting dignitaries wanted to see where Narmad lived and they went to Amliran, in Wadi Faliya, only to find the house locked.The local youth broke the lock and invited the dignitaries to look at the shabby condition of the heritage monument.
"The house was opened after a gap of 12 years," said Rajesh Jani, president of Narmad Yuvak Mandal. "That day we cleaned up the house and decided to take care of it." From that day onwards, this group looks after the monument and keeps it in the best shape possible. SMC, on it's part, sends cleaners as and when asked for by the Mandal.
Why can't the SMC take a leaf from the Narmad Yuvak Mandal and form a society of heritage lovers to take day-to-day care of Hope Bridge?
"We don't take any financial help from any one, but do it ourselves," said Jani. "The same can be done with Hope Bridge too," he suggested. "Why should we demolish our heritage? If we get financial support from SMC our Yuvak Mandal can look after Hope Bridge too."
However, vice-president of Heritage Trust, Surat, K O Shah, said, "If at all anyone can take care of Hope Bridge, it is SMC because there are many technical things involved. The structural stability aspect needs to be looked at and only SMC with such staff and expertise can take care of it."
He added, "When the SMC has drawn up wonderful plan for the development of Chowk Bazaar junction, why can't they make Hope Bridge a part of it and preserve it?''