Wallowing in neglect, LU’s Lal Baradari continues to crumble
A portion of Lal Baradari, a heritage building on the Lucknow University (LU) campus fell on Sunday night.
Heritage enthusiasts fear that if not restored immediately the structure could completely crumble just like the outer gate of Sibtainabad Imambada in Hazratganj came crashing on April 2 last year.
After the Sunday incident, the LU registrar, Vinod Singh wrote to the director general of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) urging immediate assistance to save Lal Baradari.
Former head of medieval and modern Indian history, Prof PK Ghosh said, “I am pained to see how the structure is falling apart year after year. It is very unfortunate. Citizens for Lucknow, a group of heritage enthusiasts held meetings with former LU vice chancellor SP Singh and present VC, prof Alok Rai but nothing materialised. It’s a collective failure.” Prof Ghosh was referring to ‘Citizens for Lucknow’, a group of local residents, meeting then LU VC Prof SP Singh in January 2019 after which it was decided to arrange all papers on Lal Baradari to decide the course of action to be followed. “The heritage building was laid around 1820 by Nawab Ghazi-ud-Din Haider Shah, the ruler of Avadh. He constructed a beautiful garden on the transgomti area, known as ‘Badshah Bagh’ (now Lucknow University),” said Prof Ghosh.
Adity Chakravarti, member of Citizens for Lucknow, said, “The memorandum of understanding (MoU) drafted by us for restoring the tilted wall has been lying with LU authorities since December 2020, but they have not returned it yet so that it could be signed.”
Architect Ashish Srivastava said, “Restoration can easily be done if the university wants.” “There are many buildings in the university today which incorporate the history of this institute within itself. One of them is Lal Baradari standing at the center of the university. Lal Baradari has been kept vacant for the past several years due to its dilapidated condition and is wired up to avoid any mishap,” said LU spokesman Durgesh Srivastava.
“In 2020, a committee was formed under the leadership of VC prof Alok Kumar Rai, with the head, department of ancient Indian history, Prof Piyush Bhargava, superintendent of works, Dr Durgesh Srivastava and prof Nishi Pandey to work towards the maintenance, conservation and preservation of Lal Baradari,” he said.