bengaluru balavana will finally get a facelift the house of celebrated writer and jnanpith awardee k shivaram karanth in puttur dakshina kannada will be restored by the government almost 20 years after his death tenders will be floated shortly said the department of kannada and culture balavana spread over 65 acres had been in a dilapidated state after the writers death in 1997 karanths daughter kshama rau 64 and residents of puttur were doing their bit to safeguard the property but wanted the government to restore rather than repair it shalini rajneesh principal secretary of kannada and culture department told toi tenders will be floated anytime now for the project although the pwd is going to be involved in the restoration work we will have our own conservation engineers from the archaeology department and external experts from intach indian national trust for art and cultural heritage the rs 30lakh project will only cover the writers residence and doesnt include the museum art gallery library rangamandira and natyashala housed in the campus teak will replace the ordinary wooden roof and the termiteinfested walls will be rebuilt with lime and mortar while wiring will be encased in the walls as part of the restoration work however care will be taken to ensure that balavana retains its original look said m dorairaj archaeological conservation engineer state archaeology department the first building with tiled roof and laterite framework with mud walls is vulnerable said kshama adding i hope they the archaeology department do proper and scientific restoration work it needs experts in heritage restoration and thats why i recommended intach i think the asi knows their job although there is no confirmation on whether the building will get any heritage tag officials in the department said it is anyway considered heritage property by law any building built before 1950 and having historical importance could be given heritage tag balavana was built in the 1930s kshama who stays in bengaluru had sought a detailed report of what can be restored and how it will be done from intach the latters report was submitted to the government about 18 months ago but the state archaeology department further modified the recommendations based on some technical issues c g betsurmath commissioner state archaeological department said modifications have been made after minister umashree visited the house in july our technical committee made some modifications to recommendations by intach the money has been released to the udupi dc but is likely to be credited with us to oversee the restoration project