'Patna Collectorate can be linked to Dutch heritage, Gandhi & World War tourism circuits'

The centuries-old Patna Collectorate endowed with layers of history holds the potential to be redeveloped into a ''global tourism attraction'' and can be linked to Dutch heritage, Gandhi, Oscars and World War circuits, many citizens from across the country said on Monday.

The fate of the historic landmark, parts of which were built in the Dutch-era and later expanded during the British period in the Bihar capital currently hangs in the balance, and on World Tourism Day, heritage experts and ordinary citizens, from various parts of the city and abroad, made a fresh appeal to the state government to not demolish it.

From architects to scholars and students to professionals, they concurred that the iconic complex, located on the banks of Ganga in Patna, was an ''untapped goldmine'' with a potential to be redeveloped into a ''global tourism attraction'' that can also generate revenues.

Abhishek Kumar, conservation architect and PhD scholar at IIT-Roorkee, asserted that the government and the society both must acknowledge the ''architectural wealth'' that buildings like Patna Collectorate possess and not see it with a ''jaundiced eye''.

''The Collectorate consists of buildings from Dutch-era and British period and it sits in the banks of Ganga, adding another cultural layer to it. And, it can be amazingly woven into multiple tourism circuits, including the Dutch and the British heritage circuit, with Dutch-era sites in Patna and Chapra and other colonial-era buildings added to it. It will also bring revenues to the government,'' he said.

The 12-acre complex, parts of which are over 250 years old, is endowed with high ceilings, huge doors and hanging skylights.

In Patna, other Dutch buildings include the main administrative block of Patna College and state government press at Gulzarbagh. In Chapra city, across the Ganga, a Dutch-era graveyard is located in Karinga in a pitiable condition.

Kumar, also a former project architect, HRIDAY (National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana) scheme, said the opium trade history link of the Collectorate building adds another layer to the stories associated with it and makes it a part of world history going as far back as the Anglo-Chinese opium wars.

''We need to create a sense of belongingness among the public, as it's out history, and we should not judge history by looking at colonial-era events with a contemporary prism. And, demolition suddenly is a bad idea, it will be a great loss of tangible heritage,'' he added.

Hearing a petition by heritage body INTACH, the Supreme Court on September 18 last year had ordered a stay on the demolition of Patna Collectorate, two days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had laid the foundation stone for its new complex and a slew of other projects.

The Bihar government had in 2016 proposed to demolish the historic landmark to make way for a new complex, sparking huge public outcry and appeal to save it from various quarters in India and abroad.

The then Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga had in 2016 written a letter to the Bihar chief minister appealing to preserve Patna Collectorate as a ''shared heritage'' of India and the Netherlands.

US-based researcher and author of 'Calcutta's Edifice: The Buildings of a Great City' Brian Paul Bach described the Collectorate as an excellent site with ''great potential'' to be developed as a ''global tourist attraction'' to showcase the historic Patna's past to the future generations.

''Also, heritage sites such as the endangered Collectorate in Patna, with its rich associations extending back to the opium days, deserve specialised attention, as in the future as more and more heritage sites fade from view, future generations, who may be more curious about history than we are, will be denied real concrete evidence of the historical perspectives they so rightly seek,'' Bach told PTI.

Patna Collectorate is one of the last surviving specimens of Dutch architecture in the city, especially the Record Room and the old District Engineer's Office. The British-era structures in its complex include the DM Office Building and District Board Patna Building. Historians, urban planners, conservation architects and other heritage experts have also been appealing since 2016 to the Nitish Kumar-led government to not dismantle the Collectorate, saying it will ''set a very bad precedent'' and ''jeopardise'' the fate of other colonial-era buildings. Some of the key scenes of Oscar-winning film 'Gandhi' were shot in the Record Room and DM Office in 1980s.

Allahabad-based Vaibhav Maini, membe of INTACH Allahabad Chapter emphasises on the need to acknowledge different layers of history of a city like Patna.

''If we can make policies that can allow coexistence of the old with the new, we can create jobs, opportunities while preserving band promoting our heritage, without any discrimination. And, instead of demolishing such structures, new ways of looking at it must be found and linked with tourism,'' he said.

Maini said his interest in Patna grew after he joined the citizens-led Save Historic Patna Collectorate campaign, which is now a people's movement started in 2016 and learned so much about it.

Prayers were offered in temples, mosques and churches, and poor people were fed in the campus of the historic Patna Collectorate as part of celebrations held in the city in September 1943 to mark the surrender of Italy, a turning point in World War II, according to archival documents. Collectorate can also be linked to Gandhi tourism, Oscars and World War circuits, Maini said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)