Patna Collectorate:Dutch structure demolished, few pillars preserved

The Dutch-era Record Room Building of the Patna Collectorate with a colonnaded frontage, has been demolished, but a few pillars of the historic landmark have been salvaged for the posterity. The over 300-year-old majestic building, which ran on a north-south axis on the banks of the Ganga river in Patna, had high ceilings, massive doors and unique skylights on its roof. It was also the oldest structure on the 12-acre campus of the old collectorate.  It served as a collectorate complex with district Headquarters during the East India Company rule  under the British in the later period. Some movie scenes were shot for the Oscar-winning film ‘Gandhi’

The fate of the historic collectorate complex was sealed on May 13 last year when the Supreme Court rejected a plea by Delhi-based heritage body INTACH for its preservation, paving the way for its demolition by the Bihar government. Bulldozers rolled on its sprawling campus the very next day as dismantling began and the 1938-built District Board Patna Building was the first to face the blows, triggering grief among heritage lovers and Gandhians.By May 17, the British-era structure as well as the Dutch-era Record Room Building were reduced to mountains of rubble. A small portion from the front side had been spared then as the Record Room office was still occupying it. The state government had in 2016 proposed to demolish the old Patna collectorate for a new high-rise complex, drawing criticism from the public and appeals from various quarters, including the then Dutch envoy in India and London-based Gandhi Foundation.

Work is currently underway in full swing on construction of a new high-rise complex on the site of the old collectorate and it is expected to be completed in two years. Eight Tuscan pillars, which earlier formed a part of the magnificent colonnaded frontage of the now-demolished Record Room Building, clamped in iron braces, are currently kept in a corner of the construction site, in an erect position on a concrete slab. The pillars stand near a big heap of rubble of the structure it once supported. Eight buildings, including two post-Independence structures, have been dismantled for the redevelopment project.