Post-woman, Home Guard have miraculous escape

Mysore: The latest heritage building that came crashing down in city is the 121-year-old Fire Brigade Station in Saraswathipuram. The portico of this landmark building suddenly collapsed yesterday at 3.20 pm due to heavy rains that has been lashing the city since the past four days. Luckily, there was no casualty.

The two persons who had a miraculous escape were Post-woman Ambika and Home Guard M. Pradeep, a resident of Jakkalli  in H.D. Kote taluk. At around 3.20 pm, Ambika parked her two-wheeler under the portico and was going inside the Fire Brigade Office when suddenly the roof’s cement plastering chips came down and even as she was watching, the pillars started shaking. She ran inside and by then the portico had come down, said Home Guard Pradeep who had the presence of mind to escape from the place.

This incident occurred even as it continued to pour.  As a result of the portico coming down, the two-wheeler belonging to Ambika was badly damaged but no other untoward incident occurred. 

Near the collapsed portico, every day hundreds of students would be standing waiting for the buses. Since it was holiday due to Varamahalakshmi, no one was standing there. As students use this place as a shelter, a water can is also kept there for drinking. So, a few who stand near the bus stand, which is very close to the Fire Brigade, come and drink water. 

Whenever it rained the two-wheeler riders and pedestrians would take shelter under this portico. Luckily, yesterday at this time not a single person was standing there. Otherwise the scale of tragedy would have been enormous.

Even as the portico was collapsing, the Fire Brigade personnel and the Traffic Police cordoned off the area. MLAs S.A. Ramdas and L. Nagendra rushed to the spot to inspect the place. The two elected representatives discussed with the officials of the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Public Works Department (PWD) and Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage and cleared the place.

Speaking to media, Nagendra said that the Heritage Department officials were not making any efforts to save heritage buildings which had become weak. As a result several heritage buildings are in a dilapidate state.  The experts in the name of conservation do not allow such buildings to be demolished and rebuild in the same style. They only urge that the buildings which are about to fall be strengthened and preserved. Hence, such accidents keep occurring, he alleged.

Corporator Vedavathi, MCC in-charge Commissioner P.S. Kantharaju, MCC Deputy Commissioner N.M. Shashikumar, Zonal Officer Shivanandamurthy, Development Officer Sunil, BJP Yuva Morcha State Secretary Devaraj, Regional Fire Brigade Officer Eshwar Nayak, Naveen, Dinesh Gowda and others were present. 

‘Ides of August’

The ‘Ides of March’ is a famous expression, but in our city we could say it is ‘Ides of August’ because somehow this month has proved to be a disaster with some of  the iconic heritage structures caving in or collapsing during this month. 

The latest to fall is the Fire Brigade portico. Nearly 200 heritage structures have been identified so far. Just like Lansdowne and Devaraja Market buildings, even the Fire Brigade building has been identified as a heritage structure. Just like the other two, a portion of portico of this building too has collapsed.

It may be recalled, a portion of the Lansdowne building collapsed on Aug. 25, 2012 in which four people died. Similarly, the North portion of the Devaraja Market building collapsed on Aug. 28, 2016 and even this Fire Brigade portico has come down on Aug. 9, 2019.

The Fire Brigade building was constructed in 1898 and it is now a 121-year-old building. It was constructed using mortar and gravel but since it has not been preserved properly, it has collapsed, it is alleged. The MLA has suggested that the other portion of the portico which is also weak must be brought down and a new portico built in its place. 

Heritage Department Officials said that the experts would inspect the building and submit a report at the earliest.

However, the fate of this building is likely to go the way of the Lansdowne and Devaraja Market buildings. It is seven years but the fate of Lansdowne building still remains unchanged and even after three years, Devaraja Market North Gate continues to be an eyesore.

[The ‘Ides of March’ was a day in the Roman calendar that corresponds to 15th March. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar which made the ‘Ides of March’ a turning point in Roman history.]