Renovation to restart at Planter’s Club Darjeeling builder to finance work, operate for 30 years

A sketch of the Planters’ Club in Darjeeling. Sourced by The Telegraph 

Vivek Chhetri   |   TT  |  Darjeeling   |  17.07.22:  The Darjeeling Club Limited — popularly known as the Planter’s Club — that has been shut for the past six years has worked out a financial package that could see the club reopen soon.

The club was established by British officers, army personnel and planters in 1868. In 2016, it was shut for visitors for restoration with a timeframe to reopen within a year.

“The club has so far invested Rs 2.5 crore,” said Maj (retd.) J.S. Rana, chief executive officer of the club.

However, with the investment insufficient, the renovation has not yet been completed.

“We had issued an expression of interest to help the club complete the project. We have received around 5-6 proposals,” said Sonam Gyaltsen, who on July 9 relinquished his post as the president of the club. Gyaltsen has been made the president emeritus of the club, while Amar Singh Rai, former Darjeeling MLA, is the new club president.

According to the new package, a builder from Darjeeling, Dawa Sangay, will design, build, finance, operate and transfer the property. “Some of the investors wanted to operate the building for 90 years but the present builder has agreed to operate it for 30 years,” said Gyaltsen.

In these 30 years, the club will receive a mutually agreed annual amount.

The club has almost completed constructing staff quarters for 52 families. “The structure was earlier meant to house horses and stable boys,” said Gyaltsen. He added that the civic body had asked the building to be dismantled within 15 days some years ago.

The club has 850 members from across the country and is affiliated to 120 clubs. The members had not been able to utilise most of the club facilities for the last six years because of the delayed renovation.

“The present renovation will be taking place in an area where earlier 10 rooms existed. We will be coming up with 35 to 40 rooms in this space and we plan to complete the project in about a year’s time,” said Sangay, the builder.

When the club reopens, the four-storied building will have around 52 operational rooms from the earlier 21 rooms.

Work in progress at the property

The club, one of the famous addresses in Darjeeling, located near the Mall is a sought after accommodation not just for its view of the Kanchenjungha but also because of its history and location.

The club, however, had not undergone any major renovation until 2016 apart from a quarter deck that was built after a portion of the structure fell off during the 1934 earthquake.

The club, originally called Darjeeling Club, used to function from a place called Thorn Cottage. In 1907, it became Darjeeling Club Limited and shifted to the building from where it runs now.

The land on which the club was built was donated by the Maharaja of Cooch Behar, Nripendra Narayan Bhoop Bahadur.

A.N. Banerjee, the proprietor of Happy Valley tea garden, was the first Indian to be elected as the president of the club in 1971 and Eudon Lhamu, a retired Indian Foreign Service officer, was the first woman to get a membership in 1992.

Gyaltsen, who has been a club member since 1968, said: “The club has a chequered history. We have had people offering us any amount for some of the artefacts like the Maxim’s Gun and the Snaffle’s paintings.”

The club has five original “Snaffles" paintings donated by D.G.S. Osbourne, the club’s president from 1931-33.

Gyaltsen said: “The paintings are priceless and we are told they command a very high price in the international art market.”

The club also has 20 wildlife trophies apart from other rare artifacts like oxygen cylinders used during the Everest expeditions.