At 23 crore, India’s largest CSR-funded restoration underway at Botanic Garden

Kolkata: The largest-ever CSR-funded public restoration project in the country is underway across the Hooghly at AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah's Shibpur, reports Subhro Niyogi.

The project entails restoration of a nearly century-and-a-half-old colonial building called Old Herbarium, which contained a huge collection of plant species. Public sector company NTPC has committed Rs 23 crore for the project, surpassing the previous highest CSR funding of Rs 14 crore that Citibank spent to renovate Mumbai's Afghan Church.

The implementing agency for the project at the Botanical Survey of India (BSI)-owned garden is INTACH and the lead consultants are Alleya and Associates.

The restoration of Old Herbarium, built in 1883 and modelled after the 1853 Herbarium building at Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, London, features a grandiose interior with a double-height volume and a first-floor gallery. This will make it an ideal space for public engagement and educational activities.

"Over the years, the building suffered significant distress due to vegetation penetration, rainwater ingress and the loss of internal cast iron embellishments. The restoration project aims to address these issues, reviving the building's glory and repurposing its space to include a visitor centre, interpretation gallery, conference facilities, souvenir shop and café," said Nilina Deb Lal, heritage consultant for the project.

She hopes that once the project, which started earlier this month and is scheduled to be completed by March 2029, gains momentum, it will help attract funds for the restoration of Roxburgh House and Old Seed Store at the garden.

Floated as Roxburgh International Hub Project, it was initiated to restore and repurpose the historic buildings and harness them to revitalise public engagement programmes at the garden. "Also part of the Roxburgh project is an outdoor pavilion and landscaped area, to be built with sustainable local materials, for use as educational, leisure and entertainment facilities for large groups of children, students and visitors," said Deb Lal.

BSI director Kanad Das is excited about the restoration of Asia's first herbarium. "Going ahead, we expect this will inspire the restoration of the other components of Roxburgh Project," he said. The oldest of the plant species housed in the herbarium was a specimen of Cyperus procerus that was collected in June 1696 by East India Company surgeon Samuel Brown, making it one of the oldest herbarium specimens in existence, even older than some specimens at Kew in London.

INTACH , the implementing agency for the herbarium project, has been associated with the restoration and regeneration of AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden in the past as well. "The first project was the cleaning up of the water bodies as a CSR project supported by HSBC," recounted INTACH Kolkata convener GM Kapur.

The Roxburgh Project was first thought of nearly two decades ago but failed to take off due to a lack of funds. It was in 2017 that Simpson & Brown LLP (Edinburgh) and Alleya and Associates (Kolkata) conceived the project. They presented it to BSI in 2018. The project was forwarded to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, which gave its nod in 2019 but said funds had to be privately raised.

The World Monuments Fund India, Commonwealth Heritage Forum and Deb Lal raised funds to undertake the preliminary study of Old Herbarium, the building that was relatively untouched and was most at risk. However, arranging funds to undertake the restoration proved a challenge due to Covid in 2020 and the Russia-Ukraine war until NTPC stepped in, encouraged by the environment ministry.