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Assembly annals

The Assembly building is reminiscent of the French architecture

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

STANDING TALL The Assembly building in Pondicherry

Evenings in the Bharathi Park mean carpets of yellow flowers that skirt the trees and cover the green grass. Mornings are even more beautiful with fresh flowers on the trees exuding a subtle fragrance and the sunrays casting a golden glow.

When I was in school, I still remember how Benabylece, a judge, caught me plucking flowers and throwing them. He was leaning against the parapet wall of the then Tribunal building (from where the lower courts functioned) and the present Assembly building. The judge told me that the punishment for plucking the flowers and throwing them was six months imprisonment and warned me not to repeat it. I was 14 then and since he was a towering personality, I was so scared that for several months I never took that that road to school.

It is election time and the thought of voting and Assembly sessions made me remember this incident, which happened in the building that is the seat of power in Pondicherry. Since 1969, the Assembly sessions have been conducted in this building. Earlier they were held in the Mairie Hall. For some years, the building also housed the medical college, which was shifted from the nearby General Hospital. In fact in 1954 (some say 1956), the medical college was shifted to the Tribunal building. Much before all this, it was the residence of one Mr. Pernon.

Before the merger, the Assembly was called the Representative Assembly. Through the Government of Union Territories Act, the members of the then Representative Assembly of Pondicherry were deemed to have been elected to the Legislative Assembly. The Representative Assembly met as the Legislative Assembly for the first time on July 20, 1963 with E Goubert as Chief Minister. The other members of his cabinet were Venkatasubba Reddiar, K. M. Gurusamy Pillai, Mohammed Ismail Maraicar, M. K. Jeevarathina Odayar and V. M. C. Varadapillai. S. L. Silam assumed office as the first Lt. Governor of Pondicherry in October 1963. In 1964, after elections were held, a four-member Congress Government headed by Venkatasubba Reddiar was formed.

The Assembly building is part of the public square where important buildings exist since the French rule. These buildings built in flamboyant style are slightly more ornamental than other buildings in this town.

The Assembly building has circular rooms as part of the front façade with an elevated portico (though a portion of it now has been renovated). This is a typical French building with a grand flight of stairs flanked by traditional terracotta hand balusters. The staircase leads to the colonnaded portico with round masonry. It also had grand French windows with pillars in between. The sides of the building also had stairs since the building had a high plinth.

MANNARMANNAN

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