CCTV pole near war memorial tramples on heritage

Showing disregard for Bengaluru’s heritage, authorities have erected a CCTV camera pole right next to the Mysore Lancers Memorial, a century-old obelisk that commemorates the sacrifices made by soldiers from the erstwhile princely state during World War I.

Workers hired by a private contractor recently dug up the ground on one side of the quadrangle memorial and erected the pole mounted with a CCTV junction box. This is part of the Rs 496-crore Bengaluru Safe City Project, under which 7,500 CCTV cameras are being installed to make the city streets safer. The contract has been awarded to Honeywell Automation India.

The memorial is located on Col J Desaraj Road at its triangular junction with RT Nagar and JC Nagar roads in northern Bengaluru. Col Desaraj was the chief commander of the Mysore soldiers who fought in the war.

The names of 26 soldiers who were killed in action or died of wounds or were reported missing/believed killed are engraved on the memorial. The city obelisk is one of only two memorials in India that commemorate the heroics of Mysore Lancers in World War I.

The move to erect the pole right next to the obelisk has upset conservation activists and comes amid efforts to declare the structure a state-protected monument.

R Gopal, Director, Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, on Saturday wrote to the Bengaluru traffic police chief, requesting him to shift the pole at least 100 metres away.

In September, Gopal submitted a proposal to higher-ups for creating a 100-metre buffer zone around the memorial where no construction should be allowed and for demarcating a protected area 200 metres beyond that.

“The proposal is under consideration,” Gopal told DH and hoped it would be approved soon. Architect and author Yashaswini Sharma, who submitted a proposal in 2019 to redesign the site, said the pole had “disfigured” the memorial. “Its erection betrays a complete disregard for the city’s heritage,” she said. Sharma suggested that the pole be erected on the pavement or near the bus stop, or anywhere nearby. “Why place it in a way that obstructs the view of the memorial,” she asked.

The “most appalling” thing, she added, was that the police knew the significance of the place. On September 23 every year, a wreath-laying ceremony takes place at the memorial. “We take permission from the police, including the traffic cops, because the ceremony is held right in the middle of the busy street,” she said.

While B R Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), could not be reached for comment, an officer from the RT Nagar traffic police station said they had nothing to do with the CCTV project.

Vinayak Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), said that while he didn’t have much information about the issue, he promised to rectify the mistake, if any. He conceded that the police had identified the locations for CCTV cameras.

A BBMP official said coordination meetings on the Safe City Project weren’t taking place regularly.