Patna's historic Collectorate faces demolition; INTACH opposes

Patna

Located on the banks of Ganga and spread over nearly 12 acres in the heart of the city, the Collectorate, containing remnants of Dutch-era architecture to which the British later added on to from 1850s onwards, has been perhaps among the most neglected buildings.

"The government has decided to dismantle the old Collectorate buildings and replace them with a new, state-of-the-art high-rise complex. The main new collectorate building will be five-storied. We are currently considering the design for the complex and once it is finalised, the tendering process will begin," Patna District Magistrate Sanjay Aggarwal told PTI.

He said a New Delhi-based architecture consultancy firm is doing the designs. A team from the company, along with Aggarwal and Patna Division Commissioner Anand Kishor also inspected the site last week.

Incidentally, the Collectorate had faced demolition threat in 2011 also, but after facing protests from some quarters, including employees of the District Board Patna who took the matter to the court, the dismantling decision was stalled.

New Delhi-based Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which had opposed the dismantling last time, is up in arms again against the government's move, saying "demolishing it would amount to demolishing the modern history of the city."

"The Collectorate buildings should be preserved as an important signpost of time. It has iconic high ceilings and thick walls and beautiful hanging skylights, emblematic of a part of the architectural history of the city, which must be preserved for posterity," INTACH's Patna Chapter Convener and architect JK Lall said.

"The historic Patna College, founded in 1863, began its glorious journey from this very building and the Collectorate anyway is part of the collective consciousness of generations of people here, who have used its famous Collectorate Ghat, especially during Chhath. How can one even think of destroying something of such great historical and architectural value," he said.

INTACH's Architectural Division head Divay Gupta, expressing surprise over the move, said, "The building has been listed in a couple of government publications as a heritage building and celebrated as an architectural icon by various historians and architects in their works. We had opposed the move in 2011 and we will write to the Bihar government again and also to the chief minister, and urge them to restore it and preserve it as Patna’s heritage."

District magistrate Aggarwal has claimed that the buildings are "not in good condition and maintain it is a very costly affair. Also, the Building Construction Department has declared them as condemned. We want to give people a new state-of the-art building complex. Meanwhile, we will operate from Hindi Bhawan as the main makeshift Collectorate campus and few other places in the city".

Noted historian Narayani Gupta countering the argument says, "If something is old, it needs to be maintained. The place can be restored to its original glory and the office can move back in or complementary structures can be added around the old buildings. But, why always rush to dismantle."

Among the oldest structures of the Collectorate include the Revenue Record Room with its Doric-column facade and the old district engineer's office, said to be remnants of the buildings built by the Dutch over 200 years ago. On its west is the iconic District Board Patna (DBP) building constructed in 1938, which is endowed with a beautiful conference room with high ceiling and flat Corinthian columns on its inside and charming ventilators.

The Oscar-winning film "Gandhi" starring Ben Kingsley was short partly at the Record Room, which was dressed up as a Motihari Jail, where the characters of Gandhi and CF Andrews are seen interacting in the biopic.

Devendra Kumar, an employee of the DBP, who was nine years old when the film was being shot in the 80s says, "I saw the British director (Richard Attenborough) and his team when they were shooting here.

"The District Magistrate office was also used for the court and corridor scene. I don't understand this demolition move. The government should preserve these buildings and use them to attract tourists."

Incidentally, the Collectorate featured as one of the heritage buildings of the city in Bihar government's Art and Culture Department publication, "Patna: A Monumental History" published a few years ago.

"The government first calls it a heritage building and then instead of maintaining it, decides to dismantle it. Isn't it a joke," Lall said.

INTACH's Divay says the Collectorate buildings also form part of a World Bank-funded report on the assessment of riverfront heritage in Patna, from the Collectorate to the iconic Qila House, a few years ago.

"The problem is the government never bothered to notify these buildings and the heritage listing in a publication thus remain an innocuous identification of such buildings without any provision for protection," he said.

Conservation Architect and faculty at NIT-Patna, Kamini Sinha said, "Why can't these buildings be restored and reused as it is being done in developed countries. We want to ape their mall culture but not the heritage preservation."

Aggarwal, when asked about the design said, "Initially the plan was a modern-looking structure but now we have planned to go for heritage-design architecture, but it is yet to be finalised."