Students' organisation Jamawda has come forward to motivate youths to take up the cause of preserving the Collectorate and other heritage structures in town.

This comes even as the state government takes time to take the final call on the demolition of the Patna collectorate,

Students of various schools, including Gyan Niketan, Don Bosco Academy, Radiant International School and St Michael's High School, are members of Jamawda, who are organising a series of programmes to convince people about the preservation of Patna collectorate.

On Thursday, the organisation held a discussion at Gandhi Maidan in which they made around 50 students of various schools were educated about the need to preserve Patna collectorate.

"Patna Collectorate happens to be one of the last surviving structures of Dutch heritage in the city. If it is demolished, it would be like snatching away the right to see this historic building from our next generation. Heritage structures help one to learn a lot of things about past culture and tradition apart from revealing the architectural importance of the period in which it was built. We must preserve the collectorate building," said Neel Madhav, a Class XII student of Gyan Niketan and one of the members of Jamawda.

Anshuman Singh, a Class XII student of Radiant International School and another member of Jamawda, said his organisation planned another discussion on the same topic (preservation of the collectorate) on the Golghar campus.

"We have already written to the directorate of archaeology, requesting it to allow us to organise the event there. We have planned a series of interactions on the same topic in various city schools. The students of the schools, who are members of our organisation, will help us approach the authorities. We are also going to spread the work in the coaching institutes," said Singh.

Jamawda members talked about the historical value of the Collectorate at the programme.

"High ceilings and hanging skylights are some of the attractions of the collectorate. The Oscar-winning film, Gandhi, was shot here. The Collectorate building has sustained several earthquakes. The state government should preserve it just like it is preserving the Golghar," said Amir Rizwan, a Class XII student and another member of Jamawda.

Preeti Bhagat, (17), a student who turned up for the discussion, was full of praise for Jamawda. "The heritage structures in the state capital can be turned into tourist spots and help earn good revenue. I would also join the group and help spread the word," said Bhagat.

Prabuddha Biswas, author of Monograph: The Making of the First Cantonment of the Indian subcontinent in Patna, hailed the initiative.

"The Patna collectorate campus was part of the Bankipore cantonment campus till 1767-1768. After its relocation to Danapur, the Patna collectorate area came under the direct control of the civil administration of the East India Company. Later, the company officials handed over the part of the collectorate area to the then Dutch establishment to set up a warehouse. The Dutch had two more warehouses on the outskirts of the then Patna as revealed in old documents. The first warehouse happens to be Gulzarbagh's Olandaz ka Pustha, while the second is situated on the Patna College campus. But Patna has more such British- and Dutch-style colonial buildings. Even some of the historical sites need to be identified for our understanding."

Biswas added: "The abandoned 'Denmark factory site' in Malsalami has been under the possession of the private party. Search for the French factory in Patna is still on. It existed somewhere on the western outskirts of old Patna."