Iconic Writers’ Buildings to regain secretariat status as BJP plans shift from Mamata-era Nabanna

PTI, May 6, 2026, Kolkata: The nearly 250-year-old Writers’ Buildings in the heart of the city looks all set to regain its status as West Bengal’s state secretariat, following the BJP’s decision that its Chief Minister will not function from ‘Nabanna’, the seat of power of the Mamata Banerjee administration in Howrah on the other side of the river Hooghly.

Writers’ Buildings, which witnessed an armed raid by freedom fighters during the British period and governance by Chief Ministers mainly from the Congress and CPI(M), will regain its earlier status as the state secretariat permanently, a senior state government official said on Wednesday.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress came to power in the state in 2011, and the Chief Minister’s Office was in the Writers’ Buildings for a brief period before moving to ‘Nabanna’, a new 14-storey structure at Shibpur in Howrah, two years later. Nabanna was built for a project of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners.

The official said that till the remaining maintenance work at Writers’ Buildings is completed, the new Chief Minister is likely to function from the annex building of the West Bengal Assembly.

“Before the work is completed at Writers’ Buildings, there is a proposal to let the new Chief Minister function temporarily from the annex building of the Assembly,” the official said.

He, however, said no final decision has been taken in this regard.

Chief Secretary Dushmanta Narial has held an emergency meeting with Assembly Secretary Samarendra Nath Das to discuss the proposal.

“We have been asked to keep the annex building ready and take into account every infrastructural issue, considering security and other aspects. The building has to be kept ready,” a senior Assembly official said.

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said, “We had said in 2021 that once our government comes to power, we will run the government from Writers’ Buildings.”

Built in 1780, the majestic three-storey red building followed the neoclassical style with Corinthian columns.