PARLIAMENT The landowners are refusing to have the 110-year-old Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields from being gazetted as a national heritage site despite attempts by the Tourism and Culture Ministry to do so.

"We have always wanted to gazette it but the owners refused," the minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, revealed in Parliament today.

Urging all to "continue" efforts to stop redevelopment of the land on which the ashram sits, Nazri said the owners of the land have resisted attempts to gazette the building as a national heritage site.

"It saddens me to see this happen. It's enough that we have lost so many heritage buildings.We have always wanted to gazette it but the owners refused," he said.

The Vivekananda Ashram was built in 1904 to commemorate the visit of the great Hindu monk, Swami Vivekananda, to Malaysia.

It has a great historic and sentimental value to the Indian community, especially those around the Brickfields area.

Swami Vivekananda was reknowned for introducing Indian philosophies to the Western world and is credited for bringing interfaith awareness worldwide.

The ashram, sited on private land, is poised to be redeveloped into a 23-storey apartment building and an eight-storey car park, despite numerous objections from the public.

 Nazri ( left ) also agreed to take up the suggestion of M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) to visit the ashram.

The minister was speaking while winding up the Budget 2015 debate for his ministry.

Meanwhie, Kulasegaran urged the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to reject and review any plans to approve the developments at the ashram land.

"It must call for fresh hearings to obtain the views and opinions of the people who are affected and outraged with its decision to allow redevelopment of one of the finest heritage buildings known on our motherland," he said.

He also expressed shock in discovering that the landowners themselves had opposed the government's efforts to gazette the land as a heritage site.