CHENNAI: In its bid to give a new lease of life to heritage structures including protected monuments and museums, the Tamil Nadu government has initiated steps to rope in corporate firms for expertise and financial support.
Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, Ma Foi K Pandiarajan held a meeting on Monday with honchos of corporate firms and top officials of the government departments — Museum, Archeology and Art and Culture — to chalk out a mega project in this regard.
The ambitious project involves renovation/restoration of 10 protected monuments, including Alamparai Fort located along East Coast Road (ECR), Nayakkar Mahal in Madurai, Gingee Fort and the Governor’s House at Tranquebar (Tarangambadi).
Another major component of the project is converting Chennai Museum into a world class facility that can educate as well as entertain visitors.
“It was the second meeting between government authorities and corporate firms. We’ve been discussing how we can go about with the project to renovate and restore the heritage structures, making them vibrant,” Pandiarajan told Express.
The minister recently had a discussion with Union Minister for Culture Mahesh Sharma in New Delhi on the projects contemplated by the Tamil Nadu government to give a facelift to the heritage structures and protected monuments and sought central assistance.
Firms have expressed intent and interest to contribute to the upkeep of heritage structures during the meeting, in which a detailed presentation was made.
According to a top government official, Bank of Tokyo has already donated `50 lakh for construction of a 50,000-litre overhead tank at the Chennai Museum premises.
“When an overseas banker is coming forward to contribute for the infrastructure, why can’t Chennai-based companies do the same? So we approached the corporates to help us implement the project to renovate heritage monuments,” the official said.
He added the government not only expects cash donations from corporates under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme, but also expertise.
Another official said the government wants to convert Chennai Museum into a vibrant centre for learning the heritage in an entertaining and exciting manner. In the last financial year, the museum attracted more than three lakh visitors. Authorities are aiming to increase it by three times by 2020, so that the structure can get into the world’s top 50 museums.