The Dutch-era Record Room Building of the Patna Collectorate with a colonnaded frontage that featured in Oscar-winning film “Gandhi” has been demolished, but a few pillars of the historic landmark have been salvaged for 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.
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.
INTACH was fighting a legal battle since 2019 to save the landmark from demolition, and after losing the case in the Patna High Court in 2020, had soon appealed in the Supreme Court, which had granted a stay on September 18, 2020, barely two days after the foundation stone of the redevelopment project was laid by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Patna High Court in its verdict had rejected the plea by INTACH, but directed to not bulldoze the pillars.
Several historians, scholars, conservation architects, Gandhians and ordinary citizens have expressed their anguish over the demolition of the historic Patna Collectorate.
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