Being tagged as a heritage building would normally be a matter of pride. But, for some people in the city, the tag has turned into a living nightmare because the civic body has gone ahead and conferred the honour upon certain buildings that are standing no more. In a case that can only be put down as a lack of awareness and development, several buildings on the BMC’s Heritage list are now basically a pile of rubble. When the list started being collated about five years ago, the buildings were standing. But in a couple of years, since they were old, they went into redevelopment and were demolished.

But, the BMC simply forgot about them and included them in the list of heritage structures, which was released in 2012. The buildings at Dadar, Matunga, King’s Circle, under the Five Gardens precinct, were declared as Grade IIA heritage structures. This means the residents are now in a strange situation – their homes cannot be reconstructed because the Heritage committee doesn’t permit them any modification. And in the buildings that are standing, no repair work can be done. MiD DAY brings you some cases.