Sitting at an antique, glass-topped wooden table in a spacious office on the second floor of the Writers’ Buildings, a state Department of Public Works officer recalled his years in one of the city’s most iconic landmarks and former seat of power. The officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I am about to retire and have worked in many offices. But the Writers’ Buildings are something different. They have a completely different charm.”
Exiled for 13 years
The iconic 246-year-old red building in the heart of the city fell dormant 13 years ago when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government shifted the secretariat to a 14-storey building in Howrah, across the Hooghly river.
An employee working in the Home and Hills Department said: “The Writers’ Buildings, with all their rooms, corridors, wooden stairs and iron-caged elevators, suddenly fell silent in 2013 when the seat of power shifted across the river. But over the past few days, a flurry of activity has begun and things have come back to life again.”
Soon after sweeping the West Bengal Assembly elections held in April, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the party would run the government from the premises of the book. “It has been our long-standing commitment to run the government from the clerks’ quarters,” BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya told the press on May 5, a day after the results came out.
“Since independence, the book or Mahakaran, as we know it, has always been the seat of power in Kolkata. The decision to shift the seat of power to Howrah has not gone down well with many. By restoring trust to the book premises, the BJP wants to send a message that it intends to bring back the lost glory,” said Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a political commentator.
the date
The Book Buildings (main building) were constructed in 1780 by mason Thomas Lyon for junior employees of the East India Company who kept the company’s records.
It was the first three-storey building in Kolkata (then Calcutta). In the early 1870s, Ashley Eden, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal at the time, moved government offices from the city’s Sudder Street to the Writers’ Buildings.
While the main building was built between 1777 and 1780, several blocks were added later. In the second phase of construction, between 1879 and 1906, five new blocks were added. Between 1945 and 1947, four new buildings were built, and after independence, four additional buildings were constructed.
“Since it was constructed in 1780, the Book Building has gone through several changes. Initially it was under the administration of the East India Company, then the British government took it over and after independence it became the seat of power in West Bengal until 2013,” said Sosnata Das, professor of history at Rabindra Bharati University.
New lease contract
On Thursday, cleaners were washing and cleaning the ground floor. On the second floor, where the Prime Minister’s room was likely to be, renovation work was well underway. Freemasons, electricians and carpenters, under the watchful eyes of PWD officials, were working in a huge hall-like room under strong focused lights; The police were on alert.
“The new chief minister is likely to come to the book and sit in his room. Therefore, completion of the chief minister’s room on the second floor should be the top priority. It should be ready by Friday,” a PWD official said, adding that the chief minister may work from the state legislative assembly until the main block is ready.
