Major Indian cities have been struggling with air pollution for a while now and Kolkata is no exception to this. Over the years the municipalities have been unable to control and prevent the poor air quality in the cities and climate change has only added to the problem. The built heritage in Kolkata is experiencing a direct impact of this. Victoria Memorial Hall (VMH) and the SwitchOn Foundation held a symposium to highlight the threats of the environmental challenges on the built heritage of Kolkata.
Victoria Memorial Hall is a large marble monument located in Central Kolkata. The air quality recorded around the memorial and its surroundings has been amongst the worst in the city, even though the area has a dense green cover. A major contributor to this is the evergrowing vehicular traffic in the area. Over the years, the marble of VMH has turned greyish in appearance.
On March 7, VHM in collaboration with SwitchOn Foundation held a symposium to highlight the threats of air pollution and climate change on the built heritage of Kolkata. The symposium aimed at spreading awareness of the pressing issue and finding innovative and sustainable solutions.
Vinay Jaju from SwitchOn Foundation said, “VMH is the biggest example of the impact of air pollution load of the city, and so is the cultural life of the city, known to be the cultural capital of the nation. Culture thrives in a pristine environment.” He further questioned the problem of the ever-increasing number of cars in the city, “Are cities for the cars or are cities for the people?” He pointed out that Kolkata is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and increased air pollution is affecting the health of residents of the city.
Samarendra Kumar, secretary and curator, VMH, said, “We believe that by bringing together experts from various fields, we can foster a comprehensive understanding of the challenges we face and work towards innovative and sustainable solutions. Kolkata’s cultural heritage is a shared treasure that demands collective action.”
During her keynote speech, Barbara Voss, Consul General at the German Consulate General, highlighted the urgency of the preventive measures by government interventions as well as the need for public participation to fight the problem at hand and preserve the cultural heritage in Kolkata and India.
G.M. Kapur, Director of INTACH Conservation Institute, Kolkata, Karuna Singh, Regional Director of Earth Day Network, and Monica Khosla Bhargav, principal architect at Kham Consultants participated in a panel discussion during the symposium. The panel discussion was moderated by Debanjan Chakrabarti, director, E & NE India, British Council.
Chakrabarti recommended VHM as the venue for the event as it is a large part of the cultural identity of Kolkata. During the panel discussion, he emphasised a healthy life is a prerequisite to the cultural life of a community, “The air pollution and climate change have threatened the very existence of life, everything else is endangered as well.” He pointed out the need for robust public transport to reduce air pollution from vehicles.
G.M. Kapur attributed construction and demolition dust as one of the major contributors to air pollution in the city. According to him repurposing the heritage buildings is a great solution for both preserving the cultural heritage of the city and not allowing it to pollute the air. “When you are demolishing an old building you are generating a massive amount of dust and when you are rebuilding a house, you are adding a huge amount of pollutants to the air,” he said.
He also highlighted that corporate social responsibility funding for heritage conservation is very low and limited funding is a substantial factor in the lack of preventive measures.
Karuna Singh seconded Voss’ call for active public participation to fight climate change and its adverse effects. She said, “I pin my hopes on today’s students, who are much more aware of environmental degradation and impending crisis due to rapidly changing climate.”
Problems like air pollution, inadequate waste management, and urban congestion pose significant environmental concerns. Singh further acknowledged the complicities of the preservation of cultural heritage and the urgency of sustainable development in Kolkata. According to her it is not only built heritage but also intangible heritage that suffers due to climate change.
Monica Khosla Bhargava said, “We were informally discussing there were so many policies but unfortunately in Kolkata, we are missing a master plan if we don’t have a master plan on how this part of the city is to be how does it match with its infrastructure.” She draws attention to the need for a holistic approach towards city planning and finding solutions. She added, that the city is growing eastwards and attracts young people to work, reside, and entertain themselves and this causing the heritage precinct of Kolkata to decay.