Santiniketan, Aug. 6: A house used by Rabindranath Tagore for the rehearsal of his dance dramas on the Visva-Bharati campus has been closed to tourists as the university fears the heritage structure might pose a danger to them with water seeping from the ceiling.
Sources said the varsity had already contacted the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Delhi to carry out necessary repairs at the 98-year-old Konark.
This is the second Tagore house at Visva-Bharati to be out of bounds for tourists. The other one, Shyamali - made of mud, is closed to tourists as it is being repaired by the ASI since 2013.
Konark - built in 1919 - is one of the five houses which were used by Tagore and make up the Uttarayan complex on the campus.
The sources said officials had found a portion of Konark's ceiling damaged and water sipping through the roof five days ago. "We have stopped tourists' entry to the house fearing accidents as the ceiling is leaking. We discussed the matter with the officiating vice-chancellor and then decided to close it for tourists. We will reopen Konark for tourists only after repairs," said Prashanta Ghosh, one of the deputy registrars looking after the Rabindra Bhavana museum.
Supriya Tagore, a former principal of Patha Bhavana, a Visva-Bharati-run school, said: "Konark was used as the stage for rehearsal of Tagore's dance dramas. The university should be more careful about a house like Konark and they should arrange for immediate renovation."
A varsity official said as per the central government's guidelines, the ASI had repair important and old buildings. "We have already told the ASI in Delhi that renovation of Konark is required. Now, the ASI will decide when it will renovate the house," said Swapan Kumar Datta, the officiating vice chancellor.
G. Maheshwari, the superintending archaeologist of the ASI in Calcutta, told The Telegraph: "We have already started renovating Shyamali. We will check whether we have received any communication on Konark."
Priyatosh Banerjee from Hoogly's Arambagh, who visited Santiniketan today along with his family, said: "We could not see two houses of Tagore, Shyamali and Konark. Security officials informed us that entry to Konark was stopped. We have to come again to see the two houses."
