The demand for heritage precincts in Calcutta has gained momentum. The proposal to declare Dalhousie, Bow Barracks, and Lake Temple Road ‘heritage precincts’ has already been submitted to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation by Calcutta Architectural Legacies (CAL) and the hope of a positive outcome is awaited.

Having both a colonial history and, as Amit Chaudhuri points out, a great history of modernity, Calcutta has a rich architectural heritage, and while efforts are being made to conserve and protect monuments of importance and some are being repurposed, a lot more is to be done if our para and Calcutta are not to lose their charm and distinct character... before the ornamented columns and arches of heritage houses are sacrificed at the altar of development.

The Telegraph and Chaudhuri, founder of CAL, have joined hands this time to embolden the voice with an online campaign. A tete-a-tete with Chaudhuri, a globally renowned author, passionate musician and conservationist, who is at the forefront of the campaign.

Why does Calcutta need a heritage precinct? Isn’t just preserving monuments of architectural and historical importance sufficient?

There are many other cities that are doing far more in India in terms of conservation, for instance, Fort Kochi and Bombay. They have gone a long way towards conserving not just individual buildings, but neighbourhoods. We go to Fort Kochi not to see individual buildings, but to experience the place. Similarly, when we go to Mumbai, we don’t go to Marine Drive to look at individual houses, but to experience the place. We walk around the Oval Maidan or Apollo Bandar or Ballard Estate and feel we are in the midst of history, not because of individual buildings, but because the entire place has been conserved.

Students taking pledge for Calcutta precintcs

Calcutta has a history that is expressed by its spaces and neighbourhoods in a way that’s similar to these cities but also very different. Why would we want to lose these neighbourhoods, which are so full of character, which are so attractive to everyone, whether they are people who live in Calcutta or people who are artists or writers or ordinary people or visitors from outside, from other countries and continents? Once they are gone, they will be replaced by something which could belong anywhere.
I think the KMC could do much more towards preserving individual monuments. There are so many important buildings which are not on the heritage list. But right now, we are looking for the declaration of precincts.

Doesn’t it sound anti-development?

Building tall houses, which are often not well-made and also have a negative impact on the environment, is not development; providing infrastructure, looking after our roads and pavements is development. A heritage precinct does not mean that it becomes commercially unviable. A house which is part of a heritage precinct cannot be demolished, but that does not mean it cannot be sold. It is important to disabuse house owners of the idea that owning a heritage property means somehow losing ownership or control over it. It can be sold either to somebody who wants to live in that household or who wants to repurpose that house and use it for another reason. So many art galleries and hotels are old houses that have been repurposed.

I am not saying that I want all these houses to become bed and breakfasts or hotels, but I’m just reminding people that proscribing the demolition of a house does not mean that it becomes commercially unviable. The houses in these precincts, in every city that has such precincts, are generally higher than property prices in other parts of the city and these houses are often more desirable to people than houses in other parts of the city. By introducing precincts the government will benefit as they have in such cases everywhere, but unfortunately, in Bengal they seem to be only looking at a short-term goal. Again, it becomes a big tourist draw, it adds a lot to the economy. Arts districts could be created more actively.

You have been championing the cause for a decade now, and we sense an urgency in your voice this time.

We’ve spent 10 years asking for this to happen. I wrote my first article about this in The Guardian, which was reprinted in The Telegraph in 2015. That is also when I sent out a letter to Mamata Banerjee and other people in the government and the letter, which had several eminent signatories, was supported by another letter from Amartya Sen. They keep considering this idea but the kind of movement that should take place between considering something and execution is negligible.

Heritage Precincts campaign.

However, a court ruling now says to the KMC that, CAL and INTACH, the petitioners who filed the PIL in 2018 or 19, should put forward proposals for heritage precincts to the KMC and they should be judged on their merit and we have started doing so. The question is, when will these be translated into actual action? I hope they finally will be.

How can the general public play their part?

People can be proactive in various ways. To start with, they can register with the QR Code and pledge their support. Also, they can write to the KMC asking for heritage precincts. (I know that houseowners from various neighbourhoods in South Calcutta did so in the past, but these letters seem to have been ignored.) Students of schools and colleges like Jadavpur University, Mahadevi Birla School, Cambridge International School, and Loreto College are already part of our campaign.

What will happen if we don’t get a heritage precinct?

Calcutta will lose its essence. Some cities have lost out already because they didn’t go in for heritage precincts until much later. Glasgow was slow on the uptake in comparison to Edinburgh, which benefited hugely from conserving its neighbourhoods and historic precincts. However, there is still more conservation going on in Glasgow than over here. I can think of few major cities in Europe or in North America or Latin America, for that matter in Asia and the Middle East (Yangon, Shanghai, Istanbul, Antalya, Tehran) that does not have heritage precincts or world heritage sites.