State's heritage MoU with Scotland

KOLKATA: The Scottish government is taking an initiative to preserve heritage sites in Kolkata that have a Scottish connection. An MoU on this was signed between the Scottish and Bengal governments on Thursday. It has also proposed student exchange programmes in film studies.
Scottish culture minister Michael Russell met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and spoke on the deep cultural relations that Bengal has shared with Scotland for centuries.
"The large number of Scottish heritage sites in the city bear testimony to the fact that this was one of the most favoured destinations for Scots away from home. The Scottish cemetery alone has over 1,500 graves. I am happy that a Scottish Kolkata Heritage Trust has already been formed and the cemetery is being cleaned. But there's a lot of work to do and we would like to start our conservation efforts in the city with this cemetery," Russell said. He indicated that it would take as long as 20 years to bring the neglected cemetery back to glory, with each grave properly restored.
James Simpson, OBE, architect and president of ICOMOS UK for Scotland, visited the Victoria Memorial in November 2007. The idea of a quinquennial survey was discussed for the maintenance of all historical buildings. Since then, James Simpson and Lord Charles Bruce have been the force behind the formation of the Kolkata-Scotland Heritage Trust, which chose the Scottish Cemetery as the most prominent conservation project to tackle.
"We would like have some of your people trained by our conservation architects so that the work becomes easy. I have heard that Duff College, which is manned by the Scottish Church College is in a bad shape and is lying abandoned. We could also help to conserve that, but I will have to first get a report from the state government," Russell said.
On the issue of exchange of film studies students, Russell said that Bengali films are very popular in Scotland, so much so that in the Edinburgh Film Festival, Bengali films are also screened.
Scottish Screen Academy and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) are finalising the terms of the student exchange programme, informed Russell.
According to latest reports, National Library in Kolkata is in the process of tying up with the National Library of Scotland to exchange medical records. In January 2010, Nandan will screen a bouquet of Scottish films.