The translocation process of the historic Tipu armoury to a new site which began on Monday, has been moved by 98 meters on the third day today till about 1.30 pm. Sources said that as the monument has to be moved in a ‘L’ shape, the turning process will be held tomorrow or Friday and then it would be placed on the new site.
What an ordeal and efforts and money to be spent. Now it is done, let us all be happy. However, every such costly event gives us a lesson to think for alternatives in future similar events. I had suggested to many almost 8yrs back when the track doubling work was contemplated and this structure was an impediment, that this armoury which was not hosing anything, nor was it being visited often by tourists could have been left in its place by two possible alternatives. 1. by taking the new track slightly away from the structure instead of aligning bang in line with it. In any case a new bridge was being approved and could have been so aligned to avoid interference by the structure. 2. the railway track could have been built on a very small degree slope starting at Naganahalli or nearby place which is sufficiently far away from the structure, such that the track would clear the height of the structure without affecting its location or access from below the track. Both of them were not heeded and thus we ended spending 13.5 crores of tax payers money to meet the same end objective. Let us hope that we learn a lesson from this.