Unknown Tales from the City discussed with Partha Ranjan Das, Swarnali Chattopadhya and Shuvaprasanna

The heritage committee at Kolkata Municipal Corporation should be dissolved if the city's heritage is to be preserved, West Bengal Heritage Committee (WBHC) member and conservation architect Partha Ranjan Das said at the inaugural Times Litfest Kolkata on Sunday.
"The manner in which the heritage committee has gone about quietly delisting buildings is suspect and detrimental to the city's built heritage.This has allowed developers to demolish graded heritage buildings like Dunlop House and Kenilworth Hotel," Das commented at the session on 'Kolkata Heritage: Unknown Tales from the City'.
His reactions followed a scathing criticism of the heritage committee and its arbitrary manner of delisting heritage buildings by Swarnali Chattopadhyay, group admin of Purono Kolkatar Golpo, an online forum of citizens keen on the city's heritage and old tales. "It is scandalous. Buildings that are heritage beyond doubt are being torn down after they are surreptitiously removed from the heritage list," she pointed out.
Initially, a list of 2,500 buildings was drawn up for the heritage list. It was then whittled down to 800-odd. Now, buildings are being pulled off the list. "I personally believe Kolkata's heritage building list should contain much more than 2,500 buildings. Even the gradation is all wrong. There are architecturally wonderful buildings that are graded lower than those that have no such features. UNESCO has clear guidelines in heritage that should be followed when grading buildings," said Das.
WBHC chairman Suvaprasanna, who was also a panelist, admitted to being concerned over the arbitrary manner in which the heritage committee was functioning. "There is a way to go about listing or delisting a building. We advertise it, seeking objections or suggestions. It is in the public domain. I believe WBHC has an overarching responsibility to preserve the heritage of the entire state, including Kolkata. If owners of heritage buildings approach us, we will definitely take up the cause," said Suvaprasanna.
While WBHC is attempting to create awareness on heritage across the state and is also taking up conversation projects, either on its own or in conjunction with foreign universities and consulates, it is hamstrung in Kolkata where the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's heritage committee has enjoyed primacy over the city's built heritage.
Chatterjee, who is a member of the burgeoning group of heritage lovers in Kolkata, pointed to the lack of conservation architects in Kolkata. "There are owners of old houses who want to do something positive but are clueless as they don't have anyone to turn to for advice. At the most, there are five to six conservation architects in Kolkata and they are very busy," she said.
The reason behind the dearth of experts, Das explained, was that none of the institutes in Bengal -- IIT Kharagpur, IIEST or Jadavpur University -- offered a masters degree in conservation architecture. "We at WBHC do conduct sessions and talks on focused subjects like the use of brick and lime and get leading conservation architects to speak on their projects. But that is all we can do at the moment," said Das.
He identified another major impediment in conserving its heritage buildings, particularly in Chitpur and other parts of north Kolkata. Over half the population residing in these parts are migrants with no sense of belonging to the locality or the city.
"This is a problem peculiar to Kolkata that Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad or even Delhi does not have to contend with. In these cities, it is locals who reside in the old sections. But in Kolkata, it is not so. The people who live in areas of north Kolkata make additions and alterations to buildings with no concern or awareness that they are actually destroying the architectural fabric of the neighborhood. Most of these buildings are tenanted. Rents are extremely low to allow the landlord to carry out any repairs. Add to that litigations and we have just about everything working against heritage," Das, who is also a member of the West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC),
Suvaprasanna, who is also a leading artist, felt art, literature and nearly all aspects of life were influenced by heritage. "That TOI incorporated a session on heritage in a literary festival is great. We need to create more awareness about heritage and how it can contribute to a city and state's uniqueness and economy," he added.