Keep façade of properties in BBD Bag area decked up with lights: Mayor

Kolkata: KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim has written to building owners of the BBD Bag heritage zone to keep the façade of their properties decorated with lights.

Showing the letter to the Press, he said he has written to Metro Railways, LIC and other authorities as well. He said in keeping with the heritage outlook there, the Metro’s Mahakaran Station will also have a heritage look. He said most owners in properties surrounding the Laldighi have received the letters.

Several of the properties in BBD Bag have heritage tags. He said unless the structures are maintained properly, there would be no meaning of the heritage zone tag of the BBD Bag area. Some of the buildings around Laldighi include Writers’ Buildings, Telephone Bhavan, GPO, Stephen House, Currency Building and Hong Kong House.

Several citizens had earlier written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the appeal that selected parts of the city be declared as heritage precincts to ensure protection of these places and prevent their gradual fading, it was learnt. The signatories to the letter to the CM include authors Amitav Ghosh and Amit Chaudhuri; academics Sukanta Chaudhuri, Supriya Chaudhuri, Partha Mitter, Dipesh Chakrabarty and Tapati Guha Thakurta; filmmaker Aparna Sen; and activists Bonani Kakkar and Pradeep Kakkar.

The letter had proposed that the government declare BBD Bag and College Square in central Kolkata and “Hindustan Park/Lake Temple Road/Dover Lane” in south Kolkata as heritage precincts.