Patna Collectorate

History

The Dutch first came to Patna in the early 17th century. The building was constructed by the Dutch East India Company and it was used as a godown during the Dutch period. During the British Raj, the British reused this building as Collectorate. The Collectorate started functioning from its present premises from 1857. In 1938, the District Board building was added, which is built in the British architecture.

In 2016, the Bihar government decided to dismantle the old buildings and replace them with a new complex. This led to widespread voiced protests and criticism by historians and different organisations, most notably; the New Delhi based Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and the London based Gandhi Foundation. In April 2016, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India Alphonsus Stoelinga in a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to spare Collectorate. Legal challenges to the demolition were dismissed by the Indian Supreme Court in May 2022, and by June, several parts of the complex, including the District Magistrate's office, were destroyed.

A 1920s-vintage coal-fired steamroller built by John Fowler & Company of Leeds and used to smoothen roads in India during British rule was discovered in one of the buildings of the Collectorate. After campaigns by locals, Patna Museum acquired it for display.