Karnataka   

A neglected monument

LIVINGHERITAGE

THE MADIKERI Fort, or Mercara Palace as it was called during the days of the British, is living testimony to the history of Kodagu. The fort, built by a Lingayat king in 1832, is not known for its elegance or grandeur. The Lingayat rulers held sway in Kodagu from 1633 to 1834, till the British dethroned them.

The ground plan of the palace resembles a Kodava Ain Mane (ancestral home) with a superstructure in the European style. A huge hall, which was used by the erstwhile Coorg Legislative Assembly from 1952 to 1956 when Coorg was a Part C State, is still called the Old Assembly Hall. The whole fort is built of brick and mortar. The facade of the fort is used for the Independence Day celebrations. A folk cultural programme was organised there recently.

But the building, which comes under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has been vandalised. The ASI has been issuing notices to the district administration to shift the government offices located in the fort, but to no avail.

Almost all government departments, including the office of the Deputy Commissioner, are accommodated in the fort. Scores of vehicles move in and out every day, and people throng the place since it is the seat of the district administration. The offices of the district in-charge Minister and the Madikeri MLA are also located in the fort as are the district court and other courts.

The Public Works Department and the engineering wing of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat use a corner of the fort as store yard where bitumen barrels, construction materials and pipes are dumped.

The ASI indeed has renovated the exterior walls of the fort, above the ramparts. Recently, the building was whitewashed, but the roof still leaks when it rains.

Sources in the ASI here said that efforts were on to get the fort vacated. Deputy Commissioner Subodh Yadav said he had initiated measures to shift the government offices. Two alternative sites had been suggested for relocation, but the Government was yet to take a decision, he said.

Jeevan Chinnappa in Madikeri

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