It is beyond an ordinary thinking man's comprehension why the state administration is hell bent upon demolition of heritage buildings like Minto Hall (Later Vidhan Sabha for 400 years) and raising a 5-star hotel and a mall in their place.

It is obvious that in the name of creating a new vibrant Bhopal full of multiplexes, malls, 5-star hotels and other luxuries, the land sharks have been working overtime spinning their own yarns to pull wool on the eyes of the politicians and administrators as to the utility of old buildings and sparing no argument in convincing them about the futility of protecting and preserving heritage sites. The politicians and the administrators seem to have been carried away by the lucidity of their argument and lure of seeing Bhopal as a modern city.

At the same time senior IAS Mr Buch has suggested modification/ conversion of Minto Hall into a convention centre on the lines of Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi and the triangular portion between Raj Bhawan and Minto Hall into India International Centre style low-rise hostel to accommodate delegates. It is an eminently sensible suggestion.

Also, the planned densification of this sensitive area in the vicinity of Raj Bhavan carries avoidable security risk to the Raj Bhawan and its resident and also give rise to concomitant problems like traffic snarls and crime which even without the planned densification have made driving and running a commercial in this area a nightmarish experience.

Let us hope that better counsels will prevail and the administration will desist from the demolition of historic buildings in the vicinity of the Raj Bhawan and creation of brick and cement eyesores and converting a security-sensitive area into a traffic jungle and a crime centre.

RJ Khurana, Bhopal