Why it is in the news
On the evening of 29 September 2026, a fire gutted the top floor of Koder House on Tower Road, Fort Kochi — the mansion of the Paradesi Jewish Koder family, run as a heritage hotel. A short circuit is suspected; no one was hurt, but timber interiors and historic furnishings were lost.
The exam angle
Thesis: India's minority and colonial-era built heritage survives mostly in private hands, and its protection depends less on monument laws than on everyday building, fire and zoning regulation.