The 120-year-old Puthia palace, which mesmerises tourists with its beauty, has been left in a poor condition because of a lack of maintenance measures being taken by the authorities concerned to preserve the archaeological site.
According to the law, the Archaeological Department is supposedly in charge of preservation.
Many tourists visit the site daily, because of which the local people have long been demanding to have the site declared as a tourist spot. This request, however, has gone unheeded by the authorities concerned for no specific reason.
In 1895 Queen Hemanta Kumari Debi established the two-storied palace, situated 30km to the east of the district town, under which there are 15 structures and a trench encircling it.
Afterwards, many temples, guest houses and a lake have been developed centring the palace.
At the entrance of the palace lies the Bhubaneshwar Shiva Temple, the largest Shiva temple in Bangladesh, which was established by Queen Bhubanmoyee in 1823.
All structures have been built in terracotta in a variety of styles combining the typical history of Bengal with other influences.
Locals opined that marking it as a tourist spot will help to the commercial spots in the area to flourish and will make them solvent.
They alleged that many architectural structures in the complex started decaying because no measures were taken to preserve them.
In this regard, Puthia socal worker GM Hira Bachhu echoed the locals.
A local cultural activist named Kazi Said Hossain Dulal said: “The Archaeology Department removed the old plasterwork from the Shiva Temple’s domes three years ago in the name of renovation and the rain water is now badly damaging the domes, leaving them on the verge of collapse.”
Theatre activist Nasir Uddin said many terracotta tiles have already been stolen from the structures due to the lack of security.
Badrul Alam, director of the Archaeology Directorate for Rajshahi division, said: “A museum will be established at Puthia after getting budget. Only the Tourism Corporation can declare it a tourist spot, not us.”
The director continued that they were compelled to stop the re-plastering of the Shiva Temple due to budget crunches, although security at the royal place has been beefed up recently.