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| Condemned |
It has taken Audrey House, the governor’s secretariat aged a century and more, just two years to morph from a proposed heritage museum to a structure “condemned”, courtesy government apathy.
Built by Captain Hannyington, deputy commissioner of Chotanagpur during 1850-56, the two-storey building is an extension of Raj Bhavan that also houses the fire department and state law commission, among others.
In 2009, the state government decided to convert it into a heritage museum by roping in Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for conservation and restoration activities.
Rs 1.4 crore was also sanctioned by the art and culture department.
However, state convener of INTACH S.D. Singh said the funds never reached them. “It has been lying unused at the Ranchi deputy commissioner’s office since 2009,” he said.
Now, the building construction department has declared the structure condemned, which means it is beyond repair.
“A survey was conducted a couple of months ago to assess the strength of this structure, along with half a dozen other buildings at Kutchery. However, we didn’t see any revival hope,” said P.K. Singh, the executive engineer of the department. “Hence, we have put these buildings on the abandoned list,” he added.
Although the government had asked the building construction department to provide alternative sites for offices functioning out of Audrey House, lack of space is proving to be the main deterrent.
S.D. Singh said Raj Bhavan should have pursued the Audrey House matter in the past two years. “But I have no idea why they are not taking any interest in preserving the building,” said Singh.
Principal secretary to the governor Sudhir Tripathi admitted that the building was beyond repair and promised a culture resource centre.
“Frankly speaking, a museum would have been of much use to many. INTACH was never roped in for restoration work. It had approached Raj Bhavan with the proposal of a museum. Initially, we thought it was a good idea and forwarded the proposal to the art and culture department. Funds too were sanctioned. But now, we are thinking of turning it into a cultural resource centre,” he said, adding that an expression of interest would be floated soon for private agencies.
Engineers at the building construction department, however, said the plan might materialise only if the Archaeological Survey of India, which is armed with latest renovation technologies, was approached.
