kochi the city corporation is planning to renovate the 150yearold fort cochin municipality building apparently without seeking permission from the district heritage committeeas per rules renovation of any heritage building that is more than 100 years old requires permission of the threemember heritage committee comprising senior town planner in the districtcurrently the building houses corporation zonal office facing vembanad lakeaccording to sources the corporation is planning to renovate the building at a cost of rs 50 lakh after many decades the work includes replastering of walls replacement of damaged wooden roofs and wooden staircase and whitewashing we have not received any application from the corporation so far as per rules the panel after examining the application forwards it to the art and heritage commission with recommendations depending on the character of the building that needs renovation said an official of the state town and country planningthe zonal office will be shifted to the new corporation building in fort kochi till the renovation work gets over since there are no adequate shelves corners of the building have been served as storage facility these files and portraits of former vicepresidents which adorn the walls of the municipality structure will be shifted to the new building said sahuji assistant executive engineer of fort kochi zonal officethe first floor of the heritage building is made of wood and has a wooden ceiling under the tiled roofwhitewash was done occasionally and a toilet was constructed in the first floor some time ago though there is no major leak in the building water from the toilet seeps into the ground floor we cant do further whitewash as the walls have already got thickened with paint said jayakumar assistant engineer of fort kochi zonal officehe added that people especially elder ones were finding it tough to climb the wooden staircase due to the height of it it would be replaced with lowslung stepsthe walls of the building adorn portraits of former vicepresidents john hutchinson aspinwall patric leslie l g barnard who was the first woman chairman of a municipality in india and m a platelmeanwhile former councillor and indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach kerala state convenor k j sohan stood against the move of the corporation to replaster the walls with cement and manufactured sand heritage buildings in fort kochi were plastered with lime mortar if the walls of the municipality building are replastered it will affect the strength of the structure we wont allow it and we will protest against the move sohan said