Visva Bharati V-C urges Bengal CM to return road inside campus taken over by PWD

KOLKATA: Visva Bharati University Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Bidyut Chakraborty on Monday urged Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to return a road in the varsity campus that was taken by the state government and put under the control of the PWD.

In a letter to the CM, the V-C said Santiniketan is now a World Heritage Site as declared by UNESCO on September 17.

Chakraborty said the road should be returned to enable the Central university administration to stop or at least monitor the movement of vehicles and save the heritage buildings located alongside the road within the premises.

The three-km long road, a popular one among local residents used as a shortcut to reach the Post Office More to Sriniketan, was taken over in 2021 by PWD from the university to “facilitate better movement and connectivity”.

“We have now greater responsibility to safeguard this heritage site. Under these circumstances, I earnestly request you to help us maintain the ashram area to retain the tag for us and also for posterity,” Chakraborty said in the letter to the Chief Minister.

He said: “The road should be made free of vehicles because as per the Archaeological Survey of India, the vibration due to the plying of vehicles (except two-wheelers) adversely affects the building inside the ashram. And the ASI warned that if this is not stopped immediately, these buildings will just collapse in the course of time.”

The letter said: “The noise which is an outcome of the plying of vehicles creates a vibration that also causes harm to the buildings and also disturbs the tranquillity of the ashram areas. It is also a matter of great concern that access to the ashram is restricted by the haphazard parking of the totos (e-rickshaws) on both sides of the road.

The chaotic conditions, created as a result, disturb the free movement of those visiting Visva Bharati to see the ashram.”

He further stated: “Keeping the above points in mind, my request is to allow Visva Bharati to monitor the movement of vehicles on this road passing through the ashram area...” WITH AGENCIES INPUTS