Blue plaques go missing from 3 heritage structures
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Kolkata: Blue plaques, installed by KMC to indicate the heritage status of old structures in the city, have gone missing from three Grade I structures — two temples and a chapel — in the past month.
The thefts were reported a month ago from Circular Road Baptist Chapel on AJC Bose Road near Nonapukur, Sabarna Roy Choudhury family's Dwadash Mandir and Sanjher Atchala temple—both in Behala—within five months of the plaques being installed at the heritage structures.
KMC officials suspect drug addicts, selling metals for money, might have stolen the plaques. "We were informed about the thefts last month, and our team inspected the heritage sites and found the plaques indeed missing.
We suspect that drug addicts might have stolen them," a senior official of KMC's heritage department told TOI. "We have informed police about the missing blue plaques." Circular Road Baptist Chapel founded in 1821 is in Ward 61.
The heritage properties of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family are on Sabarna Para Road in KMC's ward 126.
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Installing each blue plaque costs KMC around Rs 3,000. The civic body has installed the boards on 540 Grade I heritage buildings in the city at a cost of Rs 16.2 lakh, according to a KMC official.
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After the Baptist Chapel theft was reported, KMC reinstalled the plaque a week ago. But the plaques are yet to be reinstalled at the Behala temples. "We completed the blue plaque installation on heritage buildings in the city a few months ago. Tenders were floated for the procurement of the plaques, based on KMC's list of Grade I heritage buildings. Right now, we don't have extra blue plaques in stock. To get them, we will have to float a new tender, and the process will take some time," said a senior official.
Dwadash Mandir—12 Shiva temples with a 'dol mancha' — was established in 1852 and in 1917, Barisha Girls' High School came up on its premises. The Roy Choudhury family also founded Sanjher Atchala temple in 1608. Devarshi Roy Choudhury, secretary of Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad, said, "Last month, we discovered that the plaques had disappeared from Dwadash Mandir and Sanjher Atchala temple. We alerted the KMC and requested officials to install them again.
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