Heritage Panel Pulls Up PWD Over Unauthorised CTO Renovation in Fort

The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) has issued a notice to the chief architect of the state Public Works Department (PWD) over unauthorised renovations at the 19th-century Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in Fort, Mumbai. The heritage panel directed the PWD to produce original approvals for ongoing alterations or immediately halt the work and seek fresh permissions.

The dispute centres on the installation of lift shafts and the replacement of the building's original timber window frames with contemporary aluminium sliding windows. The CTO is a Grade-II protected heritage structure located opposite the Bombay High Court and flanked by Flora Fountain and the Parsi Bhika Behram Well. Under conservation rules, any renovation on the site requires prior clearance from the MHCC.

While the PWD has been conducting restoration work citing an approval granted in 2017, the heritage committee stated that the current execution goes beyond what was sanctioned. In its notice, the MHCC highlighted that it had never permitted lift shafts and had explicitly directed that existing wooden windows be retained and restored, or replaced with new wooden frames replicating the original design and material where replacement was unavoidable. The notice was sent directly to the PWD chief architect, who serves as a member of the heritage panel.

The alleged violations were discovered after conservation architects raised concerns about visible changes to the landmark building within the Fort heritage precinct. Members of the heritage committee subsequently conducted a site inspection, finding that aluminium-framed windows had replaced the original timber frames, altering the ground floor elevation.

Pankaj Joshi, conservation architect and principal director of Urban Centre, Mumbai, stated that replacing the timber window frames contravenes conservation norms and damages the structure's external facade. Joshi, a former heritage committee member who sent a protest message to the civic body's heritage cell, noted that such interventions violate commitments made to Unesco and risk downgrading the historic character of the listed site.

In response, a senior PWD official stated that the department had yet to receive a copy of the notice. The official mentioned that alterations might have been made to address leakage issues, but assured that necessary corrective action would be taken. The MHCC, currently chaired by retired IAS officer Praveen Pardeshi, remains the statutory authority responsible for scrutinising and approving alterations to listed heritage structures across Mumbai.