Historians protest, Congress plans campaign to restore the ‘face of Lucknow’

As the Estate Department paints a part of the 85-year-old Vidhan Sabha building white, historians and political parties are up in arms.

The painted portion stands on the left of the main building facing Bapu Bhawan. The portion, say historians, is as old as the main building and it was always painted peach to match the stones of the former.

“Lucknowites are hurt by the action of the government,” said historian Yogesh Pravin. The blueprint of the building, he said, was prepared in the early 1920s by well-known architect Swinton Jacob in the Roman-cum-Gothic style. The foundation of the building was laid by Sir Harcourt Butler in 1922 and it was built by the end-1920s. “It is the face of Lucknow and I have never heard of, read about or seen any portion of it being painted white. This is as good as killing the beauty of the structure,” Pravin added.

On his part, Prabhat Mittal, Director of the Estate Department of Uttar Pradesh said: “We are not painting the entire building white. Just the portion which is cemented from outside, is being painted. The outer portion, which has stone walls, will be left as it is.”

The building, he said, is around 80-years-old and it was last painted around 12 years ago. “A fresh coat of paint was the need of the hour,” he added. An engineer of the department said the renovation is being planned in three stages and 50 per cent of the work has been completed so far.

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