Srinagar, Aug. 12 -- Srinagar's old city has a problem that goes beyond ageing buildings.

The city is beginning to treat historic neighbourhoods as attractions while the people who give them life receive less attention.

The scale of Srinagar's built heritage is considerable.

The city's current Master Plan records about 1,000 heritage buildings and historically important sites mapped with geographic coordinates and other details during planning work.

The plan says this inventory should expand and recommends legal protection for listed buildings, precincts and historic places.

That is a useful start, but it also reveals the larger challenge.

A list can record a building, while it cannot by itself record the family that has lived there...