Heritage structure razed to make way for Guwahati riverfront project

GUWAHATI: Time and earthquakes couldn't bring it down, but the wrecking ball of progress did.

Mahafezkhana

, a colonial-era Assam-type building, has been reduced to rubble by Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to make way for the Brahmaputra riverfront expansion.
Citizens have voiced their dismay over the destruction of one of Guwahati's oldest heritage structures that withstood the earthquakes of 1897 and 1950 - magnitudes of 8.3 (estimated) and around 8.6, respectively. Congress announced a protest Tuesday.
Built between 1855 and 1865 under British administration, Mahafezkhana - also known as the record room - housed maps, administrative orders, and local land records until early last year.
The riverfront project, launched in 2003 with estimated cost exceeding Rs 300 crore, necessitated the Mahafezkhana's removal, a GMDA source said. As per the source, demolition of the over 150-year-old heritage building was carried out in phases, beginning with partial dismantling last year.

Filmmaker Utpal Borpujari took to social media to denounce the demolition. "It could have been restored, transformed into a museum-cafe, and preserved. But who bothers? ...A few like us may express outrage on social media, and that will conclude the matter."
Borpujari highlighted the irony in GMDA's own documentation. "@GMDAGuwahati, which apparently is the agency that demolished it, itself has glowing words for the building in its coffee table book on #Guwahati," he wrote online.
The 2014 GMDA publication "Forever Guwahati" acknowledges the building's storeyed history, saying it was built after 1855, though official records of its construction were missing.
"With 20-inch thick walls, it was one of two structures in the city that withstood the 1897 earthquake. The 86ft by 77ft record room served as a ready archive," the book says.