Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, May 8: The old building housing the office of the deputy commissioner (DC) of Dakshina Kannada district has been recognized as a heritage building. It will turn into a cultural museum. A plan with an outlay of Rs ten crore has been drawn up under the Smart City project to turn it into a cultural museum.

The old DC building has two buildings. One of them is used to keep electronic voting machines after the counting of votes securely while the other building has invaluable documents of the district administration. Unless they are shifted, no work can take place, the officials said. 

DC office (file photo)

The old deputy commissioner's office building is backed by 400 years of history. The palace built during the Bangas pertaining to Jain Arasu lineage who functioned under the Vijayanagara Empire, later was converted into collector's office. As per an agreement entered into between Tipu Sultan and the British in the year 1784, the building came into the possession of Tipu Sultan. After his death, Major Sir Thomas Munro used this building as the office of the first district collector. As many as 88 persons from here had taken part in the world war from 1914 to 1919. Out of them, two died, as per a plaque displayed on the outer wall of the building.

The new plan envisages conserving records and artefacts into a museum that attracts tourists. Conservation and display of historical background, invaluable artefacts, art forms, culture, arts etc will be on display. This building will store details of all the public programmes, releases, etc which help in conducting research. The building will also have a study centre where visitors can get details of all art and cultural traditions of the region. Shows will be organized in open air theatre to introduce art and cultural richness of the coast. A food exhibition will be opened where the visitors can taste the local delicacies. The district administration believes that this can become popular as the city does not have any other cultural centre.

The entire complex is located in a 5.4 acre plot out of which this building occupies 30 percent space. The building has a rich historic background, attractive architecture and design. The department of tourism has identified it as a heritage building. Portions of the buildings have become dilapidated. Unless steps to restore and strengthen are taken, the buildings might become extinct in a few years.

MLA Vedavyas Kamath says that a detailed project report to develop the building into a cultural museum under Smart City project has been drawn. He said works will start after a few hitches being encountered now are resolved.