Another one has bitten the dust in the long line of heritage buildings to be demolished in Calcutta. After Garstin Place and the house of the erstwhile maharaja of Darbhanga, it is now the turn of the old Kenilworth Hotel to be razed to the ground. In the late 1990s, during the rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the state, Garstin Place, an architectural landmark of immense historical significance - the first All India Radio transmission was made from there - was brought down. This was followed by the demolition of the exquisite Darbhanga palace on Chowringhee, in place of which Calcutta's 'tallest building', The 42, now stands. The same consortium that is promoting The 42 acquired the old Kenilworth building; now, demolition work has begun after the mysterious downgrading of the heritage status of the structure. It is, indeed, puzzling how an edifice that was listed as a Grade IIA heritage building, to which no external changes could be made, was pushed down by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to Grade III status, rendering it vulnerable to demolition. This is rather serendipitous for the builders, for the old Kenilworth premises are, interestingly, adjacent to the land on which The 42 stands.

The irreversible damage done to the city's colonial architecture by promoters is the result of conditions that have grown acute over time. Many of Calcutta's heritage buildings are badly maintained owing to a number reasons - too many co-owners, impractical rents and long legal battles between tenants and landlords. As a result of this, property dealers are able to acquire such old buildings easily. This, however, ought to cause great alarm, for the destruction of these structures, which are markers of the city's cultural past, amounts to the erasure of history. This is particularly worrisome at a time when there are fears at the national level about the ruling party's intentions to propagate a version of Indian history to suit its own ends. In the case of the demolition of the old Kenilworth Hotel, the lack of transparency and public accountability displayed by the government and the CMC with regard to the downgrading must be questioned and investigated. Moreover, if the debris is to be prevented from piling up, conservation efforts must be vigorous, and involve both experts and ordinary citizens.