Mangaluru: Old DC office building being converted into cultural museum


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.

 

 

 

 

 

  

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Comment on this article

  • tds, Mangalore

    Sun, May 09 2021

    Utter failure to decide the right things at right time

    DisAgree Agree [3] Reply Report Abuse

  • NS Shetty, Surathkal

    Sun, May 09 2021

    We will never cherish History... First they broke the Clock tower n created a monster ,space eating, Clocktower at a cost of a Crore plus resulting in Traffic congestion. Then decided to shift the Centrally and conveniently located DC's Office to Padil which resulted more than Hundred Century old Lush Green Trees Axed at a time when maintaining if not increasing the Green cover is an Absolute must. The existing Museum cud be refurbished n a New one with all the Plans mentioned, built at a new place away from the City centre. The Old Building should be strengthened n retained as a Heritage structure. Proper application of Mind to the Utilisation of Smart city funds is a must.

    DisAgree Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • Flavian, Mangalore/Kuwait

    Sun, May 09 2021

    Such a vast area and the Centuries old building maintaining or face lifting of such a large building could costly. Besides regular maintenance work needs to be carried out on a regular basis. This area is strategically placed at the heart of the City with right approach to people from many taluks of SK. Why can't the govt. use this place to raise a modern multi functional hospital to cater to the needs of general public. There is amful parking provision for the future plannings.

    DisAgree [1] Agree [5] Reply Report Abuse

  • Suresh Sequeira, Mangalore

    Sun, May 09 2021

    Absolute blindness to the current situation😴. First make it a COVID SMART city, then think of attracting tourists with Smart city ambitions.

    DisAgree [4] Agree [10] Reply Report Abuse

  • Rocky, Mangalore

    Sat, May 08 2021

    Convert it into COVID war room then anything else

    DisAgree [3] Agree [14] Reply Report Abuse

  • Anilkumar, Mangalore

    Sat, May 08 2021

    Question is how many people want a cultural museum? There are better ideas a) converting it into a city bus stand which is presently not there. b) Using the space for vegetable and fish market instead of asking people to go outside city. c) Build a bigger hospital as Wenlock and Lady Goushan are not sufficient for the city. d) Use it as playground or park for general public.

    DisAgree [10] Agree [19] Reply Report Abuse

  • John Tauro, M'lore

    Sun, May 09 2021

    The entire premises comprise over 5 acres of land, half of it can be used for bus stand.

    DisAgree [2] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jack, Mangalore

    Sat, May 08 2021

    I wonder what happened to the diaplated structure which was a small trafffic circle the left road which went to bunder fish market. On this circle there was a plaque mentioning some british officers name. Can anybody give more information on this.

    DisAgree Agree [15] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ajay Rebello, Kallianpur

    Sat, May 08 2021

    I think about time they faced the reality of covid problem in mangaluru first.

    DisAgree [4] Agree [15] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mumbai

    Sat, May 08 2021

    Need of the hour is Hospitals ...

    DisAgree [2] Agree [31] Reply Report Abuse


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