Reliable sources have it that Fort St George is to soon be freed up of valuable space, occupied hitherto by unwanted heritage buildings. That these structures were anyway in various stages of decay is another matter altogether. By the simple expedient of denying them even basic maintenance, they have been brought to a state where it is easy to declare them structurally unsound and therefore demolition-worthy. That the Archaeological Survey of India has managed to take shelter under this expedient time and again, and get away with it, is shocking to say the least.
As many as three heritage structures within Fort St George are to be cleared away. The biggest is Wellesley’s House, which remains partially standing, a section of it having collapsed in the early 1990s and allowed to remain as debris for over 25 years! The second is the so-called Clive’s Library, in the control of the Navy, which was held in place by a huge tree that grew out of it and which finally collapsed earlier this year. The third is an un-named barrack, which will apparently be demolished to make way for a car park. The status of the barrack is unclear but Wellesley’s House and the Clive Library were ‘protected monuments’ as per the ASI. It should be noted here that yet another ‘protected monument’, namely Last House on Snob’s Alley, collapsed last year.
There is now a pattern in the way Fort St George is being denuded of its heritage. The first is to clamp down on maintenance, barring the showpieces namely the Assemby and Secretariat, the Church of St Mary’s, the ASI headquarters, Fort Museum, and a couple of buildings belonging to the army and navy.The rest rapidly go to seed and then are demolished. This was exactly how an entire area, namely Portuguese Square, was done away with in the 1980s to make way for the Namakkal Kavignar Maligai. Then Post Office Square, which was at the end of St Thomas’ Street, and which was perfectly clear of vegetation till the late 1990s, was allowed to go to seed leading to the collapse of the Parson’s House and also much later, Last House. The flagstaff was cut into pieces and replaced by a steel mast and nobody knows where the remnants of the old one are. And in between we had the collapse of Wellesley’s House. Going by this, historic King’s Barracks is next in line given its state of maintenance.
Wellesley House.
Rear view of Kings Barrack.
Houses in state of collapse.
Moss ridden moat.
That the ASI should choose to remain silent and watch all this happen is truly shocking. Surely its officials ought to be making a hue and cry about these developments and demanding funding for maintenance? And on what basis do they declare a building as being suitable for denotification? This procedure seems to be wrapped in masonic secrecy and smacks of complete complicity with the other bigger and vested interests in the fort. A few months ago, it was reliably learnt that the Army was being pressured by the ASI to handover the buildings in their possession to it but they were resisting chiefly because they were concerned that the ASI would immediately denotify these structures and allow their demolition.
Fort St George, for all that it is a historic precinct and one that has been the seat of governance for three centuries, is not treated that way. The place is full of mounds of garbage, lacks basic amenities and wild vegetation, apart from places that see pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It is an apology for a heritage complex. And soon, we will have fewer markers left to show up its historicity.