Kolkata Crumbles

Kolkata grew from a small-time port in the 17^th century into the capital of British India, a little piece of London on the edge of the subcontinent. The city’s architecture was a physical manifestation of the power of the British Empire, designed to demand respect from those who saw it and also to remind them that sovereignty came from England alone. Sixty years after independence, the historic sites of this erstwhile capital are crumbling away. Once magnificent buildings are decaying from negligence, lack of funds, ownership disputes and uncontrolled squatting.

The Currency Building on Dalhousie Square, the heart of colonial Kolkata, bears a sign proclaiming proudly that it is a heritage building, protected by the law and the Archaeological Survey of India. The sign, however, is the only thing intact in the place. Wrought iron work pillars are skewed and missing, the building propped up instead by semi-permanent scaffolding. Plaster work and stone facings have fallen away to reveal the untreated brick, shutters swing from their hinges and pigeons fly in and out of the windows. If the site were ever scheduled for demolition a bulldozer would not be required; a strong sneeze would probably suffice.

The Currency Building’s situation epitomises the problems faced by historic buildings under government control in India. Listed status may well help protect against fly posting and vandalism and provide an injunction against demolition proposals, but if the funds and initiatives are not there to stop the building collapsing of its own accord, what real benefit is there in being listed? If nature is left to take its course, Kolkata will lose her past entirely and be left with nothing but an overcrowded, characterless and dirty concrete jungle.

The solution to the problem seems to lie in private-public partnerships. Just one block away from Dalhousie Square is St. John’s Church, a relic of the late 18^th century and one of the oldest buildings still standing in central Kolkata. In 2004 the World Monuments’ Fund listed St. John’s as one of the world’s 100 most endangered sites, prompting American Express to come to the church’s rescue with money for its restoration. The work was finally finished in 2007 and today the tower, clock and columns of St. Johns stand secure and freshly painted, a tribute to Kolkata’s past.