Darjeeling, March 11: The doors of Lal Kothi, Subash Ghisingh’s administrative bastion, were thrown open to reporters today, the first time in two decades.

The stark trespassers-will-be-prosecuted sign that kept at bay all those without “special permission” will be removed, promised B.L. Meena, soon after entering the building this afternoon. Meena has been made the new caretaker-administrator of the DGHC.

The two-storeyed building, which once belonged to the maharajas of Cooch Behar, was made famous by the 1978 Bengali film Lalkuthi, a suspense thriller starring Danny Denzongpa.

Today, however, its walls are painted cream and the sloping tiled roof the colour of GNLF green. Once inside the reception area, Meena and district magistrate Rajesh Pandey, who is the principal secretary of the DGHC, decided to hold a news conference.

But the reporters and photographers had only one thing in mind: to enter Ghisingh’s chamber. After much persuasion, Pandey and Meena agreed to allow journalists inside the second-floor sanctum of the GNLF chief. “Only on condition that no one can take photographs, not even from mobile phone cameras,” the two officials insisted.

Ghisingh’s desk was against the eastern wall of the spacious room. A huge map of the world was painted on the wall behind the chair. Ghisingh had last sat on it in the first week of February when he left for talks in Delhi on the Sixth Schedule.