Uttarakhand : Dehradun’s ‘Connaught Place’ will soon be landlocked, a building was built for Pakistani businessmen

The “Connaught Place” of Dehradun, which was a witness to the history of a century in itself, will now be confined to the pages of the past. On September 14, along with the evacuation of this building, the process of demolition of it will also start. Built on the lines of Connaught Place located in Delhi, “Connaught Place” of Dehradun is a commercial and business center. Which tells the story of Seth Mansaram, who was a banker of Dehradun even today.

Seth Mansaram, a wealthy and banker of Dehradun during the British period, who built many buildings in Dehradun, Connaught Place is also one of them. The dream of building this historic building was prepared by Seth Mansaram influenced by the design of the buildings of Connaught Place located in Delhi. For which Mansaram had called Architech from Bombay, and for its construction, Seth Mansaram had taken a loan of one lakh 25 thousand rupees from Bharat Insurance. This was the first building of Dehradun in the 1930s to 40s, which was made three-storeyed. It was made for the people coming from Pakistan, so that they can come here and do their business here.

At the same time, Bhim Sen, who has been running a shop in this building for about 82 years, says that his father had rented the shop from Mansaram for 24 rupees. Since then this shop is with them, but LIC is making every effort to get them out. The difficulty is where he will go at this age. Many people like Bhim Sen are living in this building who are running their livelihood. More than 150 buildings and more than 70 shops were built in this historic building, which was built in the 40s. This building was prepared by Seth Mansaram with the intention of making it a commercial and commercial center in Dehradun, but after the building was ready, Seth Mansaram could not return the loan of 1 lakh 25 thousand of Bharat Insurance and the bank became corrupt. After which many of his properties were taken over by Bharat Insurance Company, including Connaught Place in Dehradun, which later went to LIC and since then there is a fight between the people living in the building and LIC. Is.

Due to non-repair of the building, it has become dilapidated, it can collapse at any time. At the same time, Devendra, who lives in this building and is standing in front of LIC in the court proceedings, says that there have been many fake reports to declare this historic building as ‘Girasu’. Due to which the talk of demolishing this historic building is coming to the fore. At the same time, SSP Dalip Singh Kunwar says that orders have been issued from the Supreme Court in the matter. On which action will be taken soon. The building will be vacated from September 14.

Historian appealed to save the building

At the same time, historian Lokesh Ori also says that this building is a historical heritage and the state government should try to save this heritage, so that the history of many decades is saved, and also reminds people like Mansaram. For which retrofitting of this building should be done. Preparations are underway to demolish the first 138-year-old Dak Bungalow and now the 85-year-old historic building.