Kolkata: A leading architect and former member of the West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC) believes the Writers' Buildings has suffered more damage in the last monsoon than it did over the last 200 years.

Conservation architect Partha Pratim Das, who wrote a draft amendment to the West Bengal Heritage Commission Act, 2001, is so incensed with what has happened that he wants an expert team to undertake a thorough inspection, record the extent of damage and take the people who caused the damage to court. Seepage during the monsoon is feared to have affected the integrity of the buiding.

Speaking to TOI on Monday, Das said he was dismayed by the public works department's insistence on going ahead with a restoration proposal that was cosmetic and had more to do with redevelopment of the complex than preserving it.

"I was appalled when I went through the Writers' restoration report that was sent to the West Bengal Heritage Commission. There was hardly anything on restoration in the 54-page document. The first 24 pages were absolutely superficial. The next 30 pages were about new constructions planned within Writers'. It was more of redevelopment than restoration. That wasn't surprising as the document had been prepared by a team that had no expertise on restoration," Das recounted.

The PWD had asked the architecture department of Jadavpur University to prepare the report.

In a meeting attended by top PWD officials, Das and other WBHC members had objected to the proposal and offered their services, suggesting a national competition to select an architect or a firm. "We also suggested the constitution of an expert committee for the supervision of the project. But the PWD dismissed the suggestions, saying they had the competence to go about the task and began implementing it in a hurry. In their zeal to tear down buildings, they damaged priceless heritage structures," he said.

Apart from blocks A, B, C, D, E, F, G and CGA, the top floor of heritage buildings - Main block and I, II, III, IV and V - were also pulled down last year. But during the demolition drive, parts of the heritage structure were damaged, prompting a site visit by PWD secretary Indiver Pandey to gauge the extent of damage.

The architect also questioned the team's decision to appoint experts from Australia, a country that hardly has buildings that are over a century old, when professionals from the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Sweden had more experience on restoration.

Following WBHC objections, the information & cultural affairs department withheld approval to the reconstituted commission in 2014. Though Suvaprasanna was re-appointed chairman of WBHC, when he convened a meeting with the 'members' whose names he had forwarded to the government and assumed the silence for acceptance, the government rejected the minutes of the meeting, stating that it did not recognize the committee.