Sir,

I am given to understand that Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has taken a decision to rename a stretch of KRS Road  from Lakshmi Venkataramanaswamy temple to Outer Ring Road junction as Siddaramaiah Arogya Marga!

The MCC is said to have taken this decision at its meeting on November 22, based on a suggestion by Chamaraja MLA Harishgowda.

The issue was placed before the Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru before being tabled in the Council meeting.

On Dec. 13, the MCC issued a newspaper notification inviting objections from the public within 30 days from the publication of the notification.

What a stupefying decision! The alacrity in which the whole decision-making process is orchestrated exemplifies the pitiable status of our top bureaucracy and the elected representatives in taking independent decisions.

For old Mysureans, the Road  beyond Venkataramanaswamy Temple led to PK Sanatorium! Wonder if the Road was ever named officially KRS Road. For the uninitiated, PK Sanatorium is actually Princess Krishnajammanni Sanatorium.

Second sister of Maharaja Sri Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wadiyar, Princess Krishnajammanni was married to Col. Jagirdar Desaraj Urs, CIE, MVO, a  veteran of many wars in his time. Princess had three daughters. Unfortunately, Princess Krishnajammanni and her three daughters died to consumption (TB) in succession in 1904, 1910 and 1913.

Both her husband and her mother Smt. Kempananjammanni Avaru of Vani Vilas Sannidhana decided to pay a fitting and beautiful memorial to the unfortunate victims of scourge by building a Sanatorium for the larger benefit of the people of the Kingdom. Col. Desaraj Urs even gave a handsome donation of Rs. 75,000 towards this memorial.

It is in the land belonging to the PK Sanatorium that many of the recent Hospitals like Jayadeva Hospital, Trauma Care Centre and Princess Krishnajammanni Super Speciality Hospital etc., have come up.

It is in the fitness of things that the name Princess Road or KRS Road, as some claim (the press note by MCC also claims) is left unamended both for historical reasons and also for the benevolence shown by the Wadiyars even in their hour of distress!

When a decade ago Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion in Manasagangothri was given a facelift with the donation by Sudha Murthy, I was given to understand that the University of Mysore (UoM) wanted to name the Mansion after her. But the sagacious lady gracefully declined the offer.

I wish Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would show the same grace and maturity and direct the MCC and his MLA from this foolhardy perfidy.

— Raja Chandra,  Bengaluru,  25.12.2024

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