Fort Kochi likely to acquire heritage town status soon

Fort Kochi and Mattancherry in Kerala’s Kochi are all set to acquire the status of heritage towns. The tourism department will likely grant the heritage status to these towns very soon as they are the basis of tourism in the district, and were declared heritage conservation zones three decades ago.

The heritage town tags will help the two to conserve its heritage structures and also upgrade its infrastructure. As per the latest news reports, the said decision was recently taken at a meeting held by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran along with other tourism officials.
Referring to this, Tourism Director mentioned that the existing heritage structures in Mattancherry and Fort Kochi will be conserved on the lines of the Muziris Heritage project, which documents the 1000-year-old history of Muziris town.

He also stated that history recounting the visits of Dutch, Portuguese, English, and other foreigners had also been taken into the heritage town project, further to be implemented in Mattancherry and Fort Kochi. Reportedly, an agency has been roped in to prepare the master plan and prepare a detailed report within two months. As per the reports, although the towns were declared heritage conservation zones by Kochi corporation in1990, and prior permission was required to carry out any construction work here, people did not pay heed to the said rules and continued constructing new buildings and demolishing heritage structures.

Therefore, it becomes pertinent to conserve heritage structures for their survival as tourist destinations. Locals depend on them for livelihood, yet historical structures are destroyed as people don’t hesitate to violate rules and regulations. As of now, some are opposing the idea of granting both these town heritage towns yet the Tourism Department is of the view that this will work for the development of the area.