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Cooch behar palace report 24 09 12

Arup Das
Arup Das

This is report on the Cooch Behar Palace which has been maintained badly by the West Bengal Government.

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Present Condition of the Cooch Behar Palace A report by Arup Jyoti Das Date of Visit: September 24, 2012 Frontal view of the Rajbari Palace before Frontal view of the Rajbari Palace now (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Background of the Cooch Behar Palace: Present Situation of the Palace: The Cooch Behar Palace (Popularly known as At present the Palace is not well maintained Rajbari) was built by famous Koch king and negligence by the authority is evident Maharaja Nripendra Narayan in 1887. This both outside and inside of the Palace. The double storied brick building covers an area Outside area along with garden is now full of 4768 square metres and is raised on a of wild grasses and garbage are littered basement of 1.5 metres in height. The Palace almost everywhere. This is seen from main is inspired by classical European style of gate to the main palace. Both sides of the Italian Renaissance and extends 120 metres main path are full of wild grass, which has from north to south and 90 metres from east not been trimmed since a long time. Plastic to west. The Palace contains more than fifty bottles, empty packets of chips/ ice-cream halls of varied dimensions which include the and other stuffs are littered around the bedrooms, dressing rooms, billiard room, Palace. The Lighting lamps, meant for kitchen, dinning hall, dancing hall, library, lighting are now covered by grass (see toshakhana and the ladies gallery. Beautiful picture), which implies that lightings of the paintings in the ceiling as well as in the Palace at the night to attract tourist has interior wall surface in many rooms are very been completely abandoned. During our attractive. At present the Palace is under the visit we found cows roaming around areas maintenance of Archeological Survey of and using garden of the Palace as toilet. It India. ND TV, India's prime satellite was shocking and surprising to see cows Television Chanel projected Cooch Behar inside the Palace area since people can Palace as one of the possible seven wonders enter the Palace through the side gate that of India on January 19, 2009. Koch Rajbanshis too with a valid ticket the whole of the of South Asia see this Palace as a proud outside area is full of untrimmed wild memory of their royal past.We visited the grasses/other small trees which implies Rajbari Palace on September 24, 2012 during that the palace has not been in for a long our recent field trips to North Bengal (Eastern time. part of proposed Kamatapur). Published by Vikram Rajkhowa on behalf of the Centre for Koch Rajbanshi Studies and Development(CKRSD). All right reserved. page-1
palace is also not maintained properly. Of the fifty halls only few (4-5) are used as museum and other parts are blocked for visitors. Floors are not cleaned properly and in many places wall paint is getting damaged. The present West Bengal government, as well as Archeological Survey of India is completely ignoring the matter and indirectly damaging this National Monument. This act of the government is also responsible for hurting the sentiments Photo: Arup Jyoti Das of the Koch Rajbanshi people whose history and culture is always neglected by the Assam and Bengal mainstream. The outer wall of the Palace is getting damaged due to bad maintenance. Some areas are badly damaged and damped. It seems the Palace has not been painted for Photo: Arup Jyoti Das many years. This is only for the front side. Once you go to the back side (almost 70 present of the area) situation is worse. Walls in some areas are badly damaged and needed urgent attention. Surprisingly we saw some people hanging wet cloths inside the Veranda of Palace for drying them (see picture). The condition of the interior part of the Photo: Arup Jyoti Das page-2
Before Now: On 24th September, 2012 Lighting at Cooch Behar Palace at night Abandoned lighting lamps at present (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Garden of Cooch Behar Palace Garden of Cooch Behar Palace at present (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Pianting condition of the Palace at present Well painted Cooch Behar Palace (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) page-3

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Cooch behar palace report 24 09 12

  • 1. Present Condition of the Cooch Behar Palace A report by Arup Jyoti Das Date of Visit: September 24, 2012 Frontal view of the Rajbari Palace before Frontal view of the Rajbari Palace now (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Background of the Cooch Behar Palace: Present Situation of the Palace: The Cooch Behar Palace (Popularly known as At present the Palace is not well maintained Rajbari) was built by famous Koch king and negligence by the authority is evident Maharaja Nripendra Narayan in 1887. This both outside and inside of the Palace. The double storied brick building covers an area Outside area along with garden is now full of 4768 square metres and is raised on a of wild grasses and garbage are littered basement of 1.5 metres in height. The Palace almost everywhere. This is seen from main is inspired by classical European style of gate to the main palace. Both sides of the Italian Renaissance and extends 120 metres main path are full of wild grass, which has from north to south and 90 metres from east not been trimmed since a long time. Plastic to west. The Palace contains more than fifty bottles, empty packets of chips/ ice-cream halls of varied dimensions which include the and other stuffs are littered around the bedrooms, dressing rooms, billiard room, Palace. The Lighting lamps, meant for kitchen, dinning hall, dancing hall, library, lighting are now covered by grass (see toshakhana and the ladies gallery. Beautiful picture), which implies that lightings of the paintings in the ceiling as well as in the Palace at the night to attract tourist has interior wall surface in many rooms are very been completely abandoned. During our attractive. At present the Palace is under the visit we found cows roaming around areas maintenance of Archeological Survey of and using garden of the Palace as toilet. It India. ND TV, India's prime satellite was shocking and surprising to see cows Television Chanel projected Cooch Behar inside the Palace area since people can Palace as one of the possible seven wonders enter the Palace through the side gate that of India on January 19, 2009. Koch Rajbanshis too with a valid ticket the whole of the of South Asia see this Palace as a proud outside area is full of untrimmed wild memory of their royal past.We visited the grasses/other small trees which implies Rajbari Palace on September 24, 2012 during that the palace has not been in for a long our recent field trips to North Bengal (Eastern time. part of proposed Kamatapur). Published by Vikram Rajkhowa on behalf of the Centre for Koch Rajbanshi Studies and Development(CKRSD). All right reserved. page-1
  • 2. palace is also not maintained properly. Of the fifty halls only few (4-5) are used as museum and other parts are blocked for visitors. Floors are not cleaned properly and in many places wall paint is getting damaged. The present West Bengal government, as well as Archeological Survey of India is completely ignoring the matter and indirectly damaging this National Monument. This act of the government is also responsible for hurting the sentiments Photo: Arup Jyoti Das of the Koch Rajbanshi people whose history and culture is always neglected by the Assam and Bengal mainstream. The outer wall of the Palace is getting damaged due to bad maintenance. Some areas are badly damaged and damped. It seems the Palace has not been painted for Photo: Arup Jyoti Das many years. This is only for the front side. Once you go to the back side (almost 70 present of the area) situation is worse. Walls in some areas are badly damaged and needed urgent attention. Surprisingly we saw some people hanging wet cloths inside the Veranda of Palace for drying them (see picture). The condition of the interior part of the Photo: Arup Jyoti Das page-2
  • 3. Before Now: On 24th September, 2012 Lighting at Cooch Behar Palace at night Abandoned lighting lamps at present (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Garden of Cooch Behar Palace Garden of Cooch Behar Palace at present (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) Pianting condition of the Palace at present Well painted Cooch Behar Palace (Photo: Arup Jyoti Das) (source: www.coochbehar.nic.in) page-3