- The 80-year-old Redlands Building in Shillong was demolished due to structural safety concerns
- The Manipur government plans to reconstruct the building while retaining its original architectural design
- The site is where Manipur's last ruler signed the 1949 merger agreement with the Union of India
The Manipur government has clarified that an iconic old building in Shillong linked to Manipur's history, whose demolition sparked protests on Friday, will be reconstructed by retaining the original architectural design.
It said there was "no intention to erase the historical building," amid allegations by civil society groups in Manipur that the demolition of the historically significant building happened without any transparent explanation to the public - was it to be renovated using the latest technology, or was it to be completely demolished and reconstructed from scratch?
Redlands Building, also known as 'Manipuri Rajbari', was the venue where the last ruler of the princely state of Manipur, Maharaja Bodhachandra Singh, signed an agreement with the Union of India in September 1949 to merge the princely state with it.
The building also served as the home of the last ruler of Manipur in Shillong, a picturesque hill city that became the capital of Meghalaya in 1972.
A row erupted this week after engineers demolished the entire building.
Manipur's Planning and Development Authority (PDA), which is the implementing agency of the "reconstruction" project, on Saturday said the building was over 80 years old, and timely repairs were not done.
The Manipur Art and Culture Department gave a proposal to the North Eastern Council (NEC) to take up work at the "heritage complex" in Shillong, following which the NEC approved it in July 2023, the PDA said in the statement.
"One of the main components of the project is the reconstruction/restoration of Rajbari building which is very old and dilapidated. The moth-eaten wooden posts, rafters and purlins and leakage of rain in the building worsened the structures," the PDA said.
The Manipur government agency said it first dismantled a dilapidated part of the building, but concerns arose over whether the remaining part would collapse, which then necessitated dismantling of the whole structure.
"The original architectural design of the building including dimensions of the rooms and its height shall be absolutely maintained during reconstruction. This reconstruction/restoration has been taken up for a longer span of building life for future generations. There is no intention to erase the historical building," the PDA said.
New Manipur Bhawan: No Clarity?
Former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in August 2021 announced that the state government got the Rajbari land after negotiating with the Meghalaya government. In June 2022, he said they would renovate the place without changing the original structure.
In December 2022, Biren Singh along with PDA Chairman Lourembam Rameshwor Meetei unveiled the foundation stone of a project called 'Infrastructure Development of Heritage Complex, Rajbari, Shillong'.
On Friday, Biren Singh expressed disappointment when people began sharing visuals of debris at the site where the Rajbari building stood.
"Never informed and consulted, very very disappointed," he said. Later, he added, "Got information that PDA is going to construct a new building in the same old design."
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, who was in Manipur two days ago, said his government was not involved in the matter in any way.
The Rajbari stood on Manipur government land; the state Art and Culture Department gave the detailed project report to the NEC and got it cleared, and the state PDA became the implementing agency - there was no involvement of the Meghalaya government.
The latest controversy, however, is linked to the construction of a Manipur Bhawan on the same site in Shillong.
Civil society groups and even former Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh have questioned what they called a lack of clarity on the matter - is the Bhawan coming up on the same site as the Rajbari, and did the PDA consider advanced "restoration" work instead of taking the demolition and reconstruction route?
The progress of the work on the new Bhawan was conveyed to a 12-member team of civil society members from Manipur that visited the Rajbari in August 2024, according to a report in the Imphal-based newspaper The Sangai Express. The report said the team was told that the development of the Manipur Bhavan would be completed within two years.
The PDA's statement on Saturday did not mention the Manipur Bhawan project.
'Seek Public Disclosure'
The Meitei Alliance, an umbrella body of civil society organisations of the Meitei community globally, in a statement said what made the demolition especially disturbing was that in June 2022, the then chief minister announced in public that the Rajbari would be "renovated while preserving its original structure."
A "reconstruction" was never mentioned, protesters said.
"In spite of this assurance, the building has been razed to the ground - and most regrettably, this has taken place during the President's rule without any transparent explanation to the public, ignoring appeals from concerned citizens to preserve this site of immense heritage value," the Meitei Alliance said.
It requested Governor AK Bhalla to look into the circumstances under which the demolition was authorised and carried out. The Meitei Alliance said the authorities should state the facts on whether heritage assessments, consultations, or expert reviews were carried out prior to razing the Rajbari.
"We urge the authorities to develop a comprehensive heritage preservation policy to prevent such incidents from happening again. The demolition of the Manipuri Rajbari is a deep wound to the collective memory and dignity of the people of Manipur. Even though the building is gone, its historical spirit must be honoured, not erased," the Meitei Alliance said.
