BENGALURU: Soon, the quaint police commissionerate building on Infantry Road with its old world charm will house a police museum, giving us a peek into the history of the force in khaki.
The decision to convert the building into a museum was taken after the Archaeology, Museums and Heritage Department confirmed that the structure was over 150 years old and had heritage value.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) M Nanjundaswami said they will protect the building as suggested by the heritage department and it will be turned into a police museum. A proposal will be submitted to the state government soon, he said.This was in consideration of the opinion given by Dr R Gopal, Director of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage.The police department had sought the department’s opinion on whether the building qualifies as a heritage structure.Dr Gopal confirmed that the building was indeed one and hence needs to be protected, a source in the police department said.
The building used to house the office of the Police Commissioner and Additional Police Commissioners for Administration and Law and Order, for several years.
Earlier, the police department had proposed to demolish the vintage structure to make way for a park, citing the dilapidated condition of the roof tiles. The department said it was hazardous for those working on the premises. It had sought government nod to raze the structure.
The Commissioner of Income Tax too had written to the police commissioner about cracks on walls of some structures surrounding the building, causing hindrance to the next door Income Tax Colony.
A piece of history
The building was constructed with brick and mortar in 1840. It housed a magistrate court after the British rulers shifted their headquarters to the city in the mid-1800s. In 2015, the police commissioner’s office was moved to a new building on the same premises. Since then, the old building has been lying unused. It has seen 31 police commissioners till N S Megharikh.
WHAT THE MUSEUM WILL HAVE
Sources said that Dr Gopal has suggested that the proposed museum display police uniforms, lathis, batons, weapons, including guns and bullets, types of medals awarded to police officers, photos of police dogs, wireless sets, forensic science equipment, correspondence prior to Independence and after, etc.