Victoria Memorial Hall, the city’s top tourist destination, may soon get a long-overdue makeover.
The Victoria Memorial Hall (VMH) was commissioned by Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, as a symbolic tribute to Queen-Empress Victoria after her death in 1901. Designed by an English architect, the monument was constructed in white Makrana marble and surrounded by 64 acres of gardens. An annexe houses a museum containing memorabilia of Victoria and other British royals.
The cost of construction was Rs 1.05 crore, all of which came from donations by Indian well-wishers of the Raj, including many princes. Formally opened on December 28, 1921, and therefore 90 years old this month, the Victoria Memorial is a leading tourist attraction of Kolkata.
VMH is managed by a board of trustees, headed ex-officio by the Governor of West Bengal. It is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, not the state government. Despite its high profile and the board of trustees, the Victoria Memorial and its surrounding area suffer from poor upkeep. It lacks basic visitor infrastructure like trained guides and an effective security system. Add to this an unfinished restoration project, pending for more than a decade. The white Makrana marble has turned yellow over time, due to pollution and the lack of measures to guard the monument against it.
The main building also houses a museum, which is filled with shabby showcases displaying examples of the grand material culture of the Raj. There is an entry fee of Rs 10 per person. Visitors will find it extremely difficult to get hold of one of the two official guides, who are expected to attend to the thousands of tourists every day.
While high-tech security gadgets are being used across the country, security measures at the monument have not kept up with the times. The large green area is enclosed by marble railings and unsightly barbed wire. There is no metal detector at the entrance to the hall.
The authorities are now planning a major restoration project to renovate the annexe building, the main museum, the adjoining garden, the ornamental pond, and so on. However, they decline to comment on the project. “We have mooted a proposal to the Ministry of Culture for a major restoration work in the Victoria complex,” says Chittaranjan Panda, secretary and curator, “but until it is finalised, we wouldn’t want to comment on this.” He refused to comment on the poor maintenance of the Memorial.
G M Kapur, convenor of the Kolkata chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, an NGO, says that the Archaeological Survey of India is responsible for the conservation of the structure and that there are many areas to which the authorities need to turn their attention if abundant funds are available. He adds that the art restoration department of VMH does excellent work and is one of the best in the city.
| GRANTS FOR VICTORIA MEMORIAL HALL FROM THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE | |||
| Year | Grant-in-aid allocated | Drawn by VMH | Unspent by VMH |
| 2008-09 | Rs 7.50 crore | Rs 3 crore | Rs 1.03 crore |
| 2009-10 | Rs 21 crore | Rs 4.11 crore | Rs 1.69 crore |
| 2010-11 | Rs 11 crore | Rs 5.85 crore | Rs 3.57 crore |
| 2011-12* | Rs 14 crore | Rs 6.93 crore | -- |
| * Financial year to date. VMH is said to be unlikely to draw any more for the rest of the year. Whether it will spend what it has already drawn will be known only when VMH submits audited accounts in 2012. | |||
The Ministry of Culture, for its part, says that the Memorial authorities have been underutilising the allocated funds for years. During the 2010-11 financial year, for example, a senior ministry official said that Rs 11 crore had been given to the Victoria Memorial authorities as grant-in-aid, out of which only Rs 5.85 crore was drawn; of that sum, Rs 3.57 crore remained unspent till the end of the financial year. The pattern repeats for the preceding few years as well. Despite being inundated with funds, this official indicates, the Victoria Memorial authorities failed to utilise the money for conservation because of a lack of proper plans.
“The High Court had directed Kolkata Police to contain traffic emissions around Victoria and the police have implemented parking and pollution-control measures strictly,” says Rajpal Singh, the state tourism minister. He says, however, that the state government has requested the Memorial authorities to upgrade security, because the monument is situated in the heart of the city adjacent to the Red Road, where many state government offices are located. But the state government cannot interfere, as it falls under the central government’s jurisdiction.
