India News | ASI Hadn't Received Any Request to Examine Patna Collectorate: Senior Official
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. New Delhi/ The Archaeological Survey of India had not received any request in the past from the Bihar government authorities or any individual seeking examination of the centuries-old Patna Collectorate that was recently demolished, a senior official of ASI has said.
New Delhi/Patna, Aug 21 (PTI) The Archaeological Survey of India had not received any request in the past from the Bihar government authorities or any individual seeking examination of the centuries-old Patna Collectorate that was recently demolished, a senior official of ASI has said.
The comments from the senior official of the ASI's Patna Circle comes days after several heritage lovers and conservation activists on the 75th anniversary of India's Independence had said that the Dutch-era Patna Collectorate, which witnessed the 1857 Mutiny, and other landmarks in the Bihar capital associated with the freedom struggle should have been preserved and celebrated as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'.
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Dismantling of the historic Collectorate, a cluster of buildings from Dutch era and British period on the banks of river Ganga, had begun on May 14 this year, a day after the Supreme Court had rejected a plea by heritage body INTACH, which was fighting a legal battle since 2019 to save the historic landmark from demolition, triggering a wave of grief among heritage lovers in India and abroad.
In 2016, the Bihar government had announced the move to demolish the Dutch-era Collectorate for a new high-rise Collectorate complex.
The Patna Collectorate case had also highlighted the plight and vulnerability of unprotected structures in Bihar and elsewhere in the country. Ironically, it was listed as a heritage structure in the 2008 publication by the Bihar government's art and culture department -- 'Patna: A Monumental History' and also finds mention on the Bihar Tourism website.
The centuries-old landmark was neither listed under the ASI nor the Bihar state archaeology department. The building was in a "dilapidated state" and it was "used as a warehouse to store opium and saltpetre" during the Dutch era and British period, the state government had submitted in its response to the court.
The structure was "not significant" from historical or architectural perspective and hence did not warrant preservation, the government had said.
The ASI official said there are 70 heritage sites in Bihar that are centrally protected, including ancient site of Kumrahar and Mir Ashraf Mosque in Patna, ruins of ancient Nalanda University, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Sher Shah Suri's Tomb in Sassaram and Rohtasgarh Fort, and Ashokan Column in West Champaran, under its Patna Circle.
"ASI notifies a site based on its technical assessment and we look for sites which are of national importance. However, it does not mean that if a site is not notified by us, its historical or cultural value is any lesser, or that it is not worthy of preservation. Heritage preservation is a constitutional obligation of all governments and citizens. And, in cases, we feel, a monument is important but doesn't fulfil our criteria, it is recommended for preservation by the state authorities or any other competent body," the top official said, on the condition of anonymity.
ASI is a heritage custodian of the country, and no heritage custodian will say that Patna Collectorate, which dated as far back as the Dutch period, did not have any historical or cultural value, the official of the Patna Circle said.
"After reading about the Collectorate case in newspapers, we got all our old records checked. And, we are not in receipt of any request in the past from the state government authorities or any individual seeking examination of the Patna Collectorate. And, we did not submit any report on it," the official said, adding, the structures have been demolished, but things should be put in perspective.
The office of the ASI's Patna Circle, located in Graham's House, also said to be from Dutch period, is located in the vicinity of the site of the Patna Collectorate.
Eight buildings, including six historic structures that stood in the 12-acre Collectorate campus, have been razed till date. A small portion of the Dutch-era record room building of the Collectorate, including its graceful colonnaded frontage, has been spared so far.
The Bihar Urban Arts and Heritage Commission, set up in March 2020, had come to a conclusion that the "structure-in-issue at Collectorate is not important from the point of view of history, architecture, aesthetics" and hence, "need doesn't seem to arise to preserve it", according to the state government's written response submitted in court.
An advocate, appearing for the state government in the apex court, had said that the building was in a dilapidated state and endangered human life. He had also said that even the ASI said that it had no heritage value.
INTACH Governing Council member G M Kapur, soon after the SC ruling, had said, the "heritage value of the Collectorate is still intact" and he and several other heritage experts had also feared that the ruling would "set a bad precedent" for other unprotected heritage structures across the country.
"Besides, ASI has not said anything on the Collectorate, things need to be put in perspective," Kapur had said.
In 2016, the then Dutch ambassador to India Alphonsus Stoelinga had written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, appealing to him to preserve the historic Patna Collectorate as a "shared heritage" and have it listed under the state archaeology department.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)