Plea for La Martiniere water seepage repair ahead of inspection tomorrow
Kolkata: Ahead of the Calcutta High Court-directed joint inspection of the heritage buildings at La Martiniere schools in Kolkata on Monday, school secretary Supriyo Dhar pointed at water seepage at the main buildings of both the boys' and girls' schools to flag the urgent need to carry out preventive repairs and maintenance.
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The buildings are 190 years old.
Dhar told TOI on Saturday that water seepage during pre-monsoon showers was further damaging the heritage buildings. "Seepage is causing damp and cracks. The seepage will increase in monsoon unless we repair it urgently. It is a challenge to keep a two-century-old building functional. It gets even more difficult if the KMC does not cooperate," said Dhar, citing 10 letters from the school to the civic body, pleading for repairs during the summer vacation.
On May 21, a large chunk of plaster from the ceiling, measuring 10ft × 3ft, fell 40 ft below on the ground floor at the boys' school. Dhar said workers were at the spot minutes before the incident. "What would have happened had the plaster fallen on them? If it was not summer vacation, such collapsing debris could have caused severe injuries or fatalities to students. Around 6,000 children study in the two schools. Their safety is our responsibility," said Dhar.
Stressing the need for constant maintenance of heritage structures to ensure occupant safety, he said the hurdles posed by KMC in carrying out preventive repairs were a key reason behind the school moving court to get the properties off the KMC heritage list.
Repairs and preventive restoration were the most responsible approach to heritage building maintenance, addressing structural concerns before they were irreversibly damaged, he said.
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La Martiniere has multiple cases at the Calcutta HC on this issue. It filed a case, challenging a KMC stop-work notice last Nov after the school's alumni association moved the civic body over the replacement of its historic steps with marble tiles. The school management maintained it did not carry out any renovation, construction or demolition but only repairs and routine maintenance. Thereafter, the school moved court, seeking the delisting of the twin schools from the heritage list.
Later, on KMC suggestion, La Martiniere appointed KMC-empanelled restoration architect Partha Ranjan Das to guide it on repairs and maintenance of the heritage buildings. When the civic body failed to clear the repair proposals, the school again moved the HC. Based on this appeal that the court ordered a joint inspection.
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