Satkhira's Nakipur zamindar house crumbling: the 212-foot palace now covered in weeds

There was once a huge three-storey palace here. Rows of pillars, arches and carved designs adorned the building. In front lay a vast field, beside it a large pond, a paved ghat, a nahabat khana and twin Shiva temples. That memory of zamindari splendour is now on the path to ruin. A large part of the roof has collapsed. The plaster has fallen off the walls, exposing the bricks. In places, traces of the structure have vanished behind weeds.

Nakipur zamindar bari lies about two kilometres east of Shyamnagar sadar in Satkhira. Visiting there on Monday morning, it was seen that some pillars and arches of the western part still stand. Most of the walls of the long building on the eastern side have collapsed. The surroundings of this building, once 212 feet long, are now covered with banana trees, grass and weeds.

On the southern side of the field in front of the palace stand two Shiva temples side by side. Built in the style of a four-sloped house, the two temples are in relatively better condition. But the entire premises, including the two-storey octagonal nahabat khana beside the pond ghat, now bears the mark of neglect.

Nayan Hossain (25), a resident beside the zamindar house, has seen this state of the palace since his childhood. He said that if renovation had been undertaken at least 10 years ago, much of the structure could have been saved.

Nayan said that if it had been preserved, the whole area could have become an attractive tourist centre. Two women, Anowara Begum (56) and Fatema Begum (62), live inside the zamindar house. They have nowhere else to go.

Local people say that if renovation had been taken up in time, much of this historic structure could have been saved. They believe that even now, if preservation is undertaken, the area could become an attractive tourist centre.