The Angel must rotate: Calcutta HC

The angel that crowns Kolkata’s famous Victoria Memorial could rotate again with the Calcutta High Court taking a keen interest in the restoration of the monument’s former glory, even as an environmentalist has sought British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s help in the effort.

It was brought to the court’s notice yesterday that work was being done to assess the damage to the ball bearings, on which the 3.5 metre high bronze statue stands, and to restart its rotational movement, which stopped in 1999. Expressing concern over the statue, the division bench comprising Justices Ashok Ganguly and Aniruddha Bose observed that, ‘‘The angel must rotate.’’

Environmentalist Subhas Dutta has also written a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair requesting that he ‘‘explore the possibilities of extending the necessary expertise’’ to get the statue to rotate again.

The High Court has already passed several orders on Dutta’s petition seeking to save the monument from pollution and to ensure its proper maintenance. Dutta told the court that with the angel’s rotation arrested, the dome is subjected to additional wind load leading to possible structural damage to the monument.