CONCERN FOR HERITAGE: The bronze angel atop the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, which has stopped rotating. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KOLKATA: A city environmental activist, Subhas Datta, has written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair seeking his Government's technical assistance in getting the angel atop the dome of Kolkata's Victoria Memorial, which last stopped rotating early in 1999, to swivel once again. The stationary angel, it is feared, could damage the monument whose foundation stone was laid 100 years ago by King George V — then Prince of Wales.

In his letter Mr. Datta has requested Mr. Blair "to explore the possibilities of extending the necessary expertise to overcome the problem... " Moreover, he believes that "given the available expertise it might be difficult to address the problem."

A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court to which was referred a public interest litigation moved by him first in June 2002 has observed "that the angel must rotate." The Bench also appreciated the petitioner's initiative to sound the British Government on the problem and asked him to inform it of any response to the letter.

"I decided to write to Mr. Blair after being encouraged by the prompt response from his office to an earlier request by us [a team of environmentalists] to take up a tree plantation programme in war-ravaged Iraq which had suffered immense environmental damage during the war. That we could not follow through our intentions is another story and because of other reasons," Mr. Datta told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The angel, cast in plaster of Paris, is 4.9 metres tall and weighs, along with accessories, 4.5 tonnes. It is meant to rotate on 23 bronze ball bearings when the wind speed is a minimum of 15 km per hour.

The angel first stopped rotating in 1980. Experts were summoned and technicians deployed by the Victoria Memorial authorities made it rotate till it became stationary seven years ago.

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