SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Mar 17: The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD), in a combined initiative have conserved the Ghat at the Bada Talab. The Ghat, which was initially to be destroyed by the RMC, was preserved after efforts by the Shahdeo Samaj, Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar and ITRHD project head and a heritage conservator by profession Shree Deo Singh.
Being Ranchiites, everyone remembers the shabby looking Ghat at the Bada Talab with trees growing of the structure. In a look, it seemed as if it would fall off at any moment, due to which, people even feared entering the structure.
When asked how Singh got involved in the project that took almost two years, he said, “The then Deputy Commissioner of Dumka and present Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar contacted me when I was involved with the restoration and conservation of the Maluti temples in Dumka. He called me and said, the Ghat structure in Bada Talab is in a bad condition and needs conservation. He asked me to visit the structure and then file a proposal for its restoration, which I and my team did within the next fortnight.”
He further continued, “The Ranchi Lake, now called Bada Talab was initially built by a British officer, Colonel Onsely, in 1842 with the help of prisoners. The initial goal was to maintain the groundwater level of the city, which is situated over 2,100 feet above sea level. I researched about it and found out that the structure was given to the Nagvanshis of Palkot later by the Britishers, and it was their property that they then leased to the city.”
When asked of the historical proof of the transfer of rights on the property from the Nagvanshi clan to the RMC, he explained, “As per the historic documents, the papers of the contract with the Ranchi Municipal Corporation, the lessor was Baralal Nawal Kishore Nath Shahdeo and lesse was the Chairman of the Municipal Corporation in Ranchi.”
Explaining the issues with the Ghat in detail, Singh said, “Large peepal trees had grown out of the falls and roof if you remember. There were cracks all over the walls inside and out. There were several other challenges that my team and I faced, but this is the work we do. It is our job to overcome all kinds of challenges that we may face while restoring a property.”
Notably, after an initiative of the Shahdev Samaj, former Urban Development Secretary Arun Kumar Singh had asked the ITRHD to prepare a proposal to preserve the said Ghat. ITRHD had then prepared a DPR of about Rs 15 lakhs, but it was not worked out for some time, which as a result, delayed the project.
After demands of the members of the society, A K Ratan, Joint Secretary of the Urban Development Department, had written a letter to the Municipal Commissioner urging him to get the work of repair and protection of the historic building and Ghat done from the corporation level itself. Talking of it, Singh said, “There was some payment issue due to which the three-month-project stretched up to a year.
Explaining why he chose to do the project, the ITRHD project head stated, “Saving the Ghat, in some ways, I feel helped save the heritage of the Nagvanshi dynasty, as almost nothing apart from the present Doisanagar, also called Navratnagarh remains that can be called the heritage of the great dynasty that once flourished in Jharkhand All the structural heritage has been lost now. Nothing remains apart from some parts of the kila of the ratu Maharaj. Even the Jagganath temple, which was built by the Nagvanshis, has been changed from what it was originally.”
Talking of the problems that his team faces regularly, while working on a project, Singh said, “The Jharkhand history or for that matter the Chhotanagpur history is very poorly written. We’ve not even worked to properly document it all. In our line of work, history needs to be authenticated through write ups of those times, which unfortunately were not well preserved, while some have even been lost to history forever. Stories from people and locals are all categorized as hearsay as it cannot be authenticated, thus is often of no use. History can be believed only if mentioned in a history book, or an old document, or is present in an archive.”
“We now plan to put up pictures and plaque at the venue, to showcase the work that we did. We usually take hundreds of pictures per day while working on a project to show proof of the work that has been done during the project, added Singh, while talking of future plans related to the Ghat.
