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| A portion of the decrepit north Calcutta house where Woomesh Chandra Bonnerjee, the first president of the Congress, lived. (Sanat Kr Sinha) |
A heritage north Calcutta address historically connected to the Congress lies in ruins even as the nostalgic old guard commemorates the party’s 125th anniversary by doffing their Gandhi topis to the past.
69A WC Bonnerjee Street, off Girish Park, is where the first president of the Indian National Congress, Woomesh Chandra Bonnerjee, had spent the major part of his life and hosted some of the leaders who lent political and ideological muscle to the party.
But this two-storeyed building, built in 1804, is now as far removed from 10 Janpath as Manmohan Singh is from Prakash Karat.
A stone plaque with the inscription “Late Mr WC Bonnerjee (1844-1906); Bar-at-law, the first President of Indian National Congress, Bombay 1885” and the occasional garland atop it remain the only visible symbols of the structure’s historical importance.
Three families distantly related to the Bonnerjees share the sprawling house with their tenants, some encroachers, a local club, a telephone booth and a paan shop. According to a member of one of the families, realtors have been pressuring them to vacate the property.
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| Woomesh Chandra Bonnerjee |
“How long can we stand up to the realtors’ lobby? They have already taken over many heritage properties in town, and we might have to give in to them soon,” he said.
But isn’t such a building supposed to be protected under conservation laws?
Barun De, the chairman of the State Heritage Commission, said he wasn’t sure whether the Bonnerjee property was a “listed heritage building”.
“I need to check whether the building has been listed in the category of heritage houses or not. If it is not (as claimed by the residents), the Calcutta Municipal Corporation can suo motu include it in the list of protected buildings. I will send a team to assess the condition of the house,” he added.
Pradip Bhattacharya, the working president of the state unit of the Congress, claimed the party had written to the state government seeking steps to renovate the building and conserve it as a heritage property.
“I admit that the condition of the house is very bad and that we need to do something urgently about it. After all, it is part of the Congress’s and the country’s history. We will take it up with the central government through Pranab Mukherjee,” he said.
Built by Woomesh Chandra’s grandfather Pitambar Banerjee in the architectural style characteristic of Bengal in the 1800s, the house has a two-storeyed façade with a squarish interior surrounding a courtyard. The rear portion is three-storeyed, while the adjoining wing has been legally declared a “Debottar Sampatti” to continue the tradition of the annual family puja.
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The naatmandir, or outer sanctorum, has turned into a pandal decorator’s godown. The plaster on the walls and columns of the house have long gone and the roof leaks at several places.
“A portion of the verandah crumbled a decade ago. It would cost us lakhs of rupees just to repair that part,” said a resident who did not wish to be named.
According to Arunendu Banerjee, an architect involved in the restoration of old and dilapidated buildings in the city and elsewhere, poor maintenance is not the only reason for the state of the Bonnerjee estate.
“Pollution hastens the decay of old, unprotected architecture. The level of air pollution in north Calcutta being higher than in the rest of the city, I am not surprised by the damage to this heritage property,” he added.
Biswajit Mukherjee, the chief law officer of the state environment department and a member of the heritage commission, said the Bonnerjee estate deserved to be protected like the historical buildings included in the heritage list.
“A movement has already started to protect heritage houses from the effects of pollution. If Victoria Memorial can be declared a no-pollution zone, so should W.C. Bonnerjee’s house. We will take stock of the situation and consult the heritage commission on what needs to be done,” he promised.
