To come up at five-acre Public Park (old Parade Ground) adjacent to DC’s Office
By M.T. Yogesh Kumar
Mysore/Mysuru: Twenty-two years after land was reserved for the construction of a grand War Memorial for Mysuru, the work order for the Memorial has been issued. The work order was issued on 25.04.2022 by the Public Works Department (PWD) and the estimated cost is Rs. 1.41 crore.
The work deadline has been set for 24.08.2022 and the Memorial will come up at the five-acre Public Park (previously a Parade Ground) adjacent to the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) Office which is right in front of NCC Group Headquarters. The Memorial will come up at a plot measuring 40×40 feet inside the erstwhile Parade Ground.
High-quality jet black granite stones have already come to the project site from Chamarajanagar and the Kannada and Culture Department has released Rs. 50 lakh as first instalment. The Bhoomi Puja for the project will be performed by Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar soon after he returned from his foreign trip, sources told Star of Mysore this morning.
The War Memorial will have a total height of 43 feet and will have a 5-ft Saranath Ashoka Emblem on all four sides.
The foundation itself will be 10 ft. and the Memorial per-se will be 33 ft. The black granite stone was procured from a quarry in Chamarajanagar that is owned by H.M. Puttamadaiah. He donated the stones free of cost and the estimated value of the stones is over Rs. 1 crore.
The granite stones were cut and shaped at SVV Granites in Chamarajanagar. Even this was done free of cost by factory owner A. Srinath. Otherwise cutting, shaping and transport would cost over Rs. 50 lakh.
The Memorial in the form of a Square will have the elements of the city’s heritage by using Hassan’s green stone. The main entrance depicting the three symbols of the armed forces combined will be constructed. The remaining three sides will have the Army, Air Force and Navy insignia separately and will display the army tanks, fighting planes, Navy ships, guns and other weapons used by the armed forces.
It may be mentioned here that former Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Mysuru C.L. Ananda had taken up the cause of the Memorial and had completed the necessary process and through the Mysuru District Administration had sent the proposal to the State Government.
Ananda, who has served in the Army for 15 years, convinced the quarry owner to donate the granite stones as a mark of respect to the sacrifices made by Defence forces. It was Mandetira N. Subramani of VeKare Ex-Servicemen Trust who had submitted a proposal to the State Government and the Mysuru District Administration in the year 2000 to build a War Memorial in Mysuru.
This post was published on May 8, 2022 6:45 pm