Gorton castle restoration: Only 30% of work completed so far
SHIMLA: Delay in restoration work is threatening the existence of 114-year-old Gortan Castle, which was damaged in a fire five years ago. The restoration of the British era building, housing the office of accountant general, was started in 2014 and was to be complete by December 2018, but so far only 30% of the work has been completed.
Besides paucity of funds, the work has been hit as some of the offices currently housed in the building have not been shifted. Purnesh Kumar, superintending engineer of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) that has been entrusted with the restoration work, said, “The work is under progress. We have already completed restoration of many of the rooms that were gutted in fire. However, the work in rest of the rooms could not be undertaken till the records and offices there were shifted.” He added, “We have asked the accountant general’s office to shift their office so that we can undertake the restoration of work.” Sabha, the Gortan Castle, a three-storey building having 125 rooms, remained the seat of Central Secretariat of the British Government till 1942.
The office of the Accountant General of India was shifted to the premises in 1954. The balconies of the building are noted for Rajasthan Jaali work.
When the building caught fire in March 2014, as many as 65 rooms of the total 125 rooms were gutted in fire.
The then government led by Virbhadra Singh had ordered a magisterial probe to ascertain the cause of fire.
The probe had revealed that the fire had broke out due to a short-circuit.
THE RESTORATION WORK ON THE BUILDING WAS TO BE COMPLETED IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR