Nandalal Bose’s mural, commissioned by Jawaharlal Nehru, was ready only on 21 February, 1953, after which the Bokaro Thermal Power Plant was inaugurated. It is at a height of 65 feet and is over 5,000 sq feet. Telegraph picture

Bokaro, Aug. 9: The gigantic Nandalal Bose mural at the entrance of Bokaro thermal plant (A) is no more in danger of being sullied by untrained hands with the DVC abandoning plans to restore and shift the 1953 work of art to make way for a new plant that is coming up there.

Both the Damodar Valley Corporation, the owner of the power plant 70km from Bokaro town, and the Union energy ministry have now agreed that the historic piece of art would not be tampered with as it was a “national heritage”. “The historic piece of art will remain where it is,” said DVC’s chief engineer at the plant. “The mural will neither be touched nor any attempt made to shift it as it is quite old.”

DVC’s decision follows a March 14 report in The Telegraph highlighting how the mural, commissioned half a century ago by Jawaharlal Nehru, was in danger of suffering irreparable damage is it was to be brought down and relocated to deck up a heritage wall being planned nearby by the plant management.

Moreover, DVC had handed over the delicate task to teachers of the Government Art College, Calcutta who apparently have little experience in restoring such works of art.

The decision alarmed artists with many in the fraternity openly expressing their scepticism about the choice. They said that though the college had a mural department, it was no more than an extension of the painting faculty.

“Muralist Binita Bandopadhyaya said instead of muralists, painters had been assigned the task and the restoration would not be completed in time for the shift. Along with a few artists of Visva-Bharati, she demanded the mural be declared a heritage piece to ensure it was not damaged while being shifted.

Others like sculptor and muralist Sanjay Shaan and painter Hemlata also spoke out publicly against the relocation.

Art historian Arunendu Bandopadhyaya, who had visited the site, said the mural was a “glorious representation” of Indian village life with some outstanding ecological visuals. Apart from depicting man-nature ties, there are several floral motifs. The mural is an expression of the cultural continuity of post-Independent India.

Nehru had commissioned Nandalal Bose, one of the most important artists of modern India, and Surendranath Kar, who built Santiniketan, in 1952 to create a gigantic mural to be put up above the main gate of the power plant.

It was completed under the supervision of Bose and was inaugurated on February 21, 1953, after Kar, the then principal of Kala Bhavan, endorsed its installation.

“This mural was made in front of my eyes. The most important aspect of this work was that it was made in rhythm with the architecture of the building (thus the elongated figures),” said artist Ramananda Bandyopadhyaya, a student of Bose and one of the last torch-bearers of the Bengal school of art.

While Bandopadhyaya wasn’t against the mural’s restoration, he said it was imperative that trained hands were assigned the task.

For, any damage, he said, would be a “national loss” as “this is national property akin to an Ajanta fresco or an Ellora temple”.