Threat looms over Queen Mary's High School

Visakhapatnam: Another one of Vizag's major heritage structures - Queen Mary's High School - which was originally built and funded by the Gode family in the late 1800s, is now facing the danger of being demolished by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) authorities.

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) Vizag convener PV Prasad said the Old Town zonal commissioner of GVMC had issued a notice under Section-456 of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, dated July 27, 2016, RC NO-138 saying that the "existing building of Government Queen Mary's High School, Old Post Office division No. 25 is in a very dangerous condition and likely to fall/ collapse due to the age of the building and structural condition." It further directed the school authorities to bring down the building within three days of date of receipt of notice, failing which the GVMC would itself demolish the building.

Members of Intach-Vizag said they immediately contacted the present district collector and the former GVMC commissioner Pravin Kumar, who said he would look into the matter. Prasad said this was not the first time that heritage structures in the city were targeted. Stating the demolition of the Kurupam market as a prime example of official insensitivity, Prasad added that Intach-Vizag would not give up on the Queen Mary's School.

Members of Intach observed that at this rate, given the attitude of the average official towards heritage structures and the history of a place, Vizag would soon be shorn of all its major heritage structures.

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