Whose baby is Shimla’s Town Hall?

Shriniwas Joshi

Returning to Shimla from the US after staying there for slightly more than three months, I found only one development in the town - the Municipal Corporation building was finally renovated.

The MC, which had occupied it since 1908, when it was constructed, had to vacate the building, as the then Chief Minister in 2014 had released a sum of about Rs 8 crore for its restoration. A condition was that restoration has to be done without making any changes in its façade. The Asian Development Bank came to help in its restoration on 70:30 ratio, with 70 per cent of funds flowing from the ADB. 

Now that the half-timbered Tudor style - all-wooden frames and shingled eaves' building, whose interior and exterior have been refurbished by using new wood and, wherever required, the old one was polished and stonework got repaired, the hunger of several organisations are stuck on gobbling it. A few want a museum here, a handful want a library, some want it to be a cultural centre. The question is - who should be its mother?

I find an information centre run by the Tourism Department about 50 yards away from it providing newspapers and magazines for readers. The day I checked in, there were nine readers against a seating capacity of about 17. Hardly 100 yards away, there are two libraries, one in Scottish church and the other on the Ridge. 

Two heritage buildings - Bantony Lodge and Cottage - have recently been purchased by the government and handed over to the Language and Culture Department for establishing museum or library or archives or cultural centre. The department, as yet, is hazy about the best use of the buildings. Yes, the library in the church needs to go to a better place and, I think, the renovated Bantony Cottage (ex-employment exchange building) can accommodate it. Then adjacent to the present Town Hall, there is huge complex of Gaiety Theatre with two covered and one outdoor hall, a conference room, places for mounting art exhibitions, a rehearsal room and space permanently handed over to the Lalit Kala Akademy for displaying art objects readied by various artists of India. I, therefore, feel that there is no need of a cultural centre in the renovated Town Hall.

You borrow a book from your friend. It is torn; you get it stitched and get it bound. Will the book be yours? No, it will remain of the friend from whom you have borrowed the book.

Same is the case with the Town Hall. It should go back to the organisation from which it was taken for renovation, i.e., the MC. A city hall, town hall, civic centre (as called in UK or Australia), a guildhall or a Rathaus (as called in Germany) is everywhere the chief administrative building of  a city or town. Wherever you go, you find it housing the city or town council, its associated departments and their employees. 

The Town Hall of Shimla is a historic building and the history has been written by Shimla MC which was municipal government at the time of its formation in 1851 under the Act XXVI of 1850. It was the first municipal government in whole of Punjab. It earned the distinction of being the first grade municipal committee in 1871. It worked under the Punjab Municipal Act 1911 till the HP Municipal Act 1968 repealed it. It was converted into a Municipal Corporation on June 2, 1986.

History, therefore, is in favour of Shimla MC and this satisfies the 'information potential' requirement of being a historic building. Has it yielded information important to history? Actually, the history of Shimla is closely associated with the municipal committee of Shimla. 

The presidents of the committee including SB Goad, Major General P Innes, F Peterson and others have made Shimla what it is today. 

Second criterion is 'design/construction', i.e., the building in which sits the Mayor of the town should have the distinctive characteristics of the building by its architecture and construction, including having great artistic value of being the work of a master because all tourists, especially foreign, assess the town by the seat of the Mayor.

There is no denying the fact that  Scottish architect, James Ransone, designed the building, in 1908, so attractive that it catches the eyes even today. Third criterion is 'person', whether the building was associated with significant people of  past Shimla. Yes, Dr. NL Verma, Bhag Mal Sauhta (freedom fighters), Mela Ram Sud, Bihari Lal (businessmen), Durga Das (journalist) and many other names adorn its merit -board. I, therefore, feel that if the history has to be maintained then the restored town hall should go back to the Shimla Municipal Corporation which was ousted from here in 2014.

Tailpiece

There is a popular story of the Arab and the Camel. The Arab, the master, was pushed out of his own tent by his camel. The master shivered in cold outside and the camel slept comfortably inside the tent.