The Hindu Business Line : Bengal Heritage Commission in need of new lease of life

Kolkata May 28 The present state of affairs of the West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC) is similar to the pitiful condition of the State heritage structures.

Formed in 2001 as per the recommendations of an expert committee headed by Professor Barun De, the objective of the Commission was to draw up a list of heritage buildings and sites in the State and to take measures for their scientific preservation.

Heritage structures

While an exhaustive list of 1,364 heritage structures in Kolkata has been prepared, there is no proper monitoring system to review the current condition of these structures.

What is more shocking is that a few of these structures have already been demolished with the Commission having no clue about the developments.

For instance, the British Indian Association building (which is numbered 597 in the heritage list and falls under category A-31, that is, under "libraries, museums, literary and others") no longer stands because it has been demolished to make way for a multi-storey office-cum-commercial complex.

The WBHC, which depends on the State Government and the Finance Commission for financial assistance, also suffers from lack of funds required to maintain these structures.

Resources

"We don't have adequate resources to review the current conditions of these structures and have to depend on public feedback," a senior WBHC official told Business Line. "Only when we are alerted that a building is being demolished, can we take any action," he added.

Referring to the fate of the British Indian Association building, which was constructed in the late 1860s, the official said, "There could be several such instances like the BIA, where a building included in the heritage list does not exist anymore."

Earlier, a senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had told Business Line that the heritage list was being "revised" to account for the structures which figure in the list but which have been demolished.