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The historic British palace and port near Paradip in Orissa is on the verge of collapse and will soon be turned to rubble, if official apathy continues.
"The historical monument lies dilapidated," official sources said on Tuesday.
If the neglect continues, the 250-year-old Hukitola palace, located 20 km from the bustling Paradip port, is unlikely to be preserved for the next generation.
"Due to apathy of the state and central government, this historic symbol of the colonial era is dying," said an old fisherman, who used to work from the port till the early 60s.
Once a transit point for British maritime traders, Hukitola is long past its days of glory.
But it still remains an important link with the past for the reconstruction of the history of colonialism in eastern India, pointed a historian.
Keeping this in view, the locals have been demanding the revival of the port and the maintenance of the palace, if not for the commercial possibilities, then at least for the sake of history.
The port and palace started shrinking in importance in 1924, when the British established a port at False Point.
In 1962, the central government established the Paradip port, which marked the decline of the palace.
However, the fishermen of the region kept using it for a long time.
English merchants arrived at Hukitola in 1750 and established a port for exporting merchandise. They also established a palace with a big godown to stock goods. Situated on the mouths of a number of rivers and covered with dense forest, the place was good from other strategic considerations too.
The raw material for the port and the palace, both designed by Revenshaw Sahes, were carried through the waterways from the Barabati fort. The palace had four ladders, which opened to separate spaces. Massive doors and windows were the other features of the palace.
The uniqueness of the palace, however, lied in its roof. Sloping in design, it helped rainwater to flow down to four big water pots. The collected water was used for drinking purposes by the merchants all through the year.
In the course of time, the windows, doors and accessories inside the palace started vanishing, courtesy local thieves. Earlier, one vessel had drowned near the palace. Miscreants made away with the important parts of the vessel.
There was also a 125-feet high lighthouse near the port to facilitate the movement of ships, which is no longer in use.
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