Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Museum Committee plea to High Court

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, MARCH 25. The Coimbatore Museum Committee has appealed to Justice Venkatachalamurthy of the Madras High Court (portfolio judge for Coimbatore) to consider its long- pending plea to give the dilapidated family court building for the District Museum and the Tamil Nadu Archaeological Survey Museum.

The fund-starved administration could not find any better place to protect and preserve these artefacts. As a result, they are lying in open places making them vulnerable to vandalism and vagaries of nature. The hunt for a place to showcase these rich historical treasures (including the statue of a Mahavira, a sword used by Tipu Sultan while invading this region from his Mysore headquarters, rare wood carvings of the Perur temple car) continues for several years.

Heritage structure

The two museums have so far shifted to many places on an ad-hoc basis from time to time. These museums were first housed in a Corporation school on Kaleeswara Mills Road, Kattoor. Before shifting to the school, the artefacts were shelved in a small building at Anna Market on Mettuppalayam Road. They were shifted because the administration could not afford the rent. Prior to that it was housed at a Children's Library near the Park Gate. The building (which was originally the Coimbatore North Taluk office) is now accommodating the Special Court for Bomb Blast Cases.

In a bid to strengthen his case for seeking the family court building, a member of the museum Committee, Ravi Sam, in his memorandum to the portfolio judge, said the committee set its eyes on the erstwhile family court popularly known as "Kudirai Vandi Court" located adjacent to the Uppilipalayam - Avanashi Road old flyover.

Being a heritage structure built by the British, it had the ideal ambience for a museum. Due to lack of maintenance it has become a breeding ground for criminals and anti-social elements. It would provide easy access to schoolchildren, floating population and tourists owing to its proximity to the railway station, bus stand and central location. It would be ideal to have it here rather than shifting to Bharathiar University, which agreed to provide the required space at the intervention of the Governor of Tamil Nadu.

The proposed location at the University is 20 km from the City and this might result in tourists not showing any interest. If given a place and maintained well, not only the entertainment starved citizens of Coimbatore but also the visiting tourists to the scenic Western Ghats region and businessmen bound for industrial and textile units could get a peep into history. "Above all, there is a pertinent need to have the museum in proper place to enable our children to know our rich history and legacy", the committee pleaded.

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