Patna, Dec 10 (PTI) Eight magnificent Tuscan pillars which earlier adorned the frontage of the now-razed Dutch-era Record Room of the old Patna Collectorate have been prominently displayed in its new complex which was inaugurated on Tuesday.
The move is likely to bring at least a modicum of consolation to heritage lovers who had fought for six years to save this historic landmark and had felt heartbroken after it was dismantled in 2022 as part of a redevelopment project.
The historic Record Room was an over 300-year-old majestic building that ran on a north-south axis on the banks of the Ganga river in Patna, and was endowed with high ceilings, massive doors and unique skylights on its roof.
It was also the oldest structure on the 12-acre campus of the old collectorate that consisted of a cluster of British-era and Dutch period buildings and post-Independence structures, which were demolished in phases two years ago starting May 2022.
In 2016, the Nitish Kumar government proposed to demolish the Patna Collectorate to make way for a new complex, sparking huge public outcry to save it from various quarters in India and abroad.
In 2019, Delhi-based heritage body INTACH took the matter to the Patna High Court and eventually the Supreme Court in 2020, suggesting to Bihar authorities to build the new collectorate at a different site.
While the courts rejected the plea, the High Court had directed preservation of the iconic pillars of the old Collectorate.
"The old buildings have been replaced by a new complex, but we have preserved eight pillars from the frontage of the Record Room. It was quite an engineering challenge to pull out the pillars while carrying out the demolition work for the redevelopment project, and took a lot of time, planning and ingenuity to extract them," a senior official told PTI here.
These pillars have now been prominently displayed in a dedicated plaza facing a green area, so that people can see both the modern structures and a "piece of the past", he said.
The eight pillars have been sited near the bays of the two underground parking lots, where the Dutch-era Record Room earlier stood.
Six pillars have been placed in a crescent shape layout, while a pillar each stand on the two sides with the top and bottom sides fixed in a metal frame.
The pillars on each end stand separated from the curved colonnade by an aluminium-clad iron column, part of the frame that has been added to lend stability, the official said.
However, for people like Diptanshu Sinha (28) a conservation architect who was part of the Save Historic Patna Collectorate movement that ran for six years starting 2016 to save the landmark from the wrecking ball, the feeling of losing this "colossal built heritage" still hurts.
"These pillars will also remind us heritage lovers of what we lost, what we could have saved. And, they will stand as a monument to our society's failures, in policy-making and in the sheer indifference of the people," he lamented.
Patna-born Sinha, was so dejected after seeing the demolition of the old Collectorate buildings that he left his job here and moved to an architect firm in Gurugram.
"Keeping these eight pillars is just for namesake to comply with the court's order. In few years, its significance will be forgotten," he argued.
The district administration has put a metal plate on the frame carrying a brief information which mention about the court order, and describes the displayed eight pillars as "symbol of Dutch architecture".
The old documents and office of the Record Room was shifted to another building near the Gandhi Maidan a few months after the May 13, 2022 order of the apex court, and the remaining portion of the Dutch-era building was razed by end of December 2022.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday inaugurated the multi-storey modern complex of the Patna Collectorate constructed over the past 2.5 years.
The new complex houses offices of 39 administrative departments under one roof.
Ahead of the 2020 Bihar elections, Kumar had on September 16, 2020 laid the foundation stone of the new complex to be built after razing the old one, but two days later, the Supreme Court put a stay on its demolition after hearing a plea by INTACH.
Some of the key scenes in the Oscar-winning film "Gandhi" (1982) directed by Richard Attenborough were filmed on the old Patna Collectorate campus featuring the record room and the British-era as DM office building.
The centuries-old landmark was neither listed under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), nor the Bihar state archaeology department.
Ironically, it was listed as a heritage structure in the 2008 publication by Bihar government's art and culture department -- 'Patna: A Monumental History' -- and also found mention on the Bihar Tourism website.
The Patna Collectorate case also highlighted the plight and vulnerability of unprotected historic structures in Bihar and elsewhere in the country, wherein such heritage buildings often lose the battle to the onslaught of modernity.
In early 2016, the then Dutch Ambassador to India, Alphonsus Stoelinga, wrote to the Bihar chief minister, appealing to him to preserve the historic Patna Collectorate as a "shared heritage" and have it listed under the state archaeology department.
In 2016, the London-based Gandhi Foundation too wrote to the chief minister, appealing him not to dismantle the historic landmark and instead celebrate its iconic architectural heritage.