Due to incessant rains, portion of fort around Mysuru Palace collapses

Due to incessant rainfall over the past few days, a small portion of the fort around Mysuru Palace, between Bisilu Maramma Temple and Jayamarthanda Gate, on the south-eastern side has collapsed.

According to Mysuru Palace Board officials, the fort wall, a length of 20 metres and height of seven metres, has collapsed.

Mysuru Palace Board Deputy Director T S Subramanya said, besides rainfall, due to the impact of the sound of cannon firing during the Dasara rehearsals to acclimatise the elephants for the Jamboo Savari procession, there was a crack on the wall.

“We had requested the City Police to shift the acclimatisation venue. Thus, for the second and third rehearsals, it was changed to the parking lot opposite the Dasara Exhibition Grounds this time,” he said.

E-procurement tender

The officials added that since they had noticed the crack, the Mysuru Palace Board had floated an e-procurement tender to take up the works to restore the fort wall for a stretch of 50 metres, including the portion where it has collapsed, at a cost of Rs 39 lakh. The work was supposed to begin on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the wall has collapsed due to continuous rainfall. The tender holders have already begun the restoration work on Tuesday itself,” they said.

‘A heritage structure’

They said, “Since it is a historical, heritage structure, we are following all the norms to restore a heritage structure. We are using the same material and mechanism used to build the wall, including same stones and bricks.”

“The project period is for 90 days. If it continues to rain, we may have to give a slight extension,” they said.

While the exact time of the incident is not ascertained, the workers of the Palace Board have noticed it on Tuesday morning, when they came to work.

After the southern portion of the Lansdowne Building collapsed due to similar rains, killing four people in August 2012, two expert committees came up with two contradictory
reports - one to restore, and the other to demolish and rebuild.

The State government had earmarked Rs 2.75 crore for the restoration of Lansdowne Building and Rs 8.8 crore for the restoration of Devraja Market.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) took up the restoration works of both the buildings on March 28, 2016.

But during the restoration, a portion of Devraja Market collapsed in September 2016. Thus, the restoration works on both the buildings were stopped.

Later, the MCC passed a resolution to demolish and rebuild both the heritage structures. Following a PIL, the High Court asked a Heritage Experts Committee to relook into the issue. Although the Committee was in favor of restoration, the State government is in favour of demolition and reconstruction.

Poor maintenance

“The fort that protected Puragere, the earlier name of Mysuru, existed since the days of Yadu Raya of the Wadiyar dynasty. Many Wadiyar kings strengthened the fort during their periods. The present fort was built during Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s period, after the fall of Tipu Sultan. The Sultan had removed boulders and stones from the fort, for the construction of a proposed Nazarbad fort. It was further strengthened and beautified during the period of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. Due to poor maintenance by the government, it has collapsed,” said Lakshmi Kishore Urs, a researcher on Mysuru.