RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: The cash-strapped Rajamundry Town Hall Trust is in a Catch-22 situation over the upkeep of the historic hall social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu had constructed here 132 years ago. The Trust requires Rs 50,000 for the monthly maintenance of the Town Hall. Renting it out for events could fill the coffers. But there is a catch: Veeresalingam had specified in his Will that the hall — he constructed after a decade-long struggle in 1890 — could be used exclusively for conducting re-marriages of widows or Brahmo Samaj weddings. His Will also prohibited political parties from holding meetings in the hall. Idol worship or bhajans were also banned. Veeresalingam’s Will has literally tied the Trust’s hands since they could use the hall only to hold knowledge-imparting or apolitical events.
The Trust is now seeking donations to raise a corpus fund to keep the hall in good shape. If the donations do not come by, the Trust fears that it will be forced to hand over the more than `35 crore worth property to the Archaeology Department. Veeresalingam, whose 175th birth anniversary was celebrated on Saturday, had also willed that if the Trust could not maintain the hall, it could be handed over to the Archeology Department or the civic body. Earlier, the Trust had rented out space for commercial establishments which helped in footing the power and water bills, besides taking up minor maintenance works. A couple of years ago, the Trust took the help of the civic body to evict the businesses, citing the meagre rent.
Veeresalingam realised the need for have an own place to propagate the values he believed in. He took up the construction of the Town Hall with Rs 7,073 on 1,720 square yards in 1880. The construction was completed 10 years later. Veeresalingam had purchased the land upon Godavari for Rs 673, and shelled out Rs 6,500 required for the construction from his own pocket.
The rules for managing the Town Hall were formulated mostly based on secularism. He introduced the mandatory reservation system 130 years ago for the composition of the Trust. All communities had representation in the Trust, with one each post reserved for Vysyas, Dalits, Christians and Muslims. The Trust has been following this guideline to this date. The building was renovated using the Trust’s funds and State government grants. Almost 90 per cent of the works have been completed.
Trust secretary Jammi Rama Rao and member Adv M Siva Subbarao said they are struggling to protect the hall. “We need almost Rs 4-Rs 5 crore as corpus so that we can get bank interest and maintain the historic building.’’ They added that the other option is to hand over the property to the Archaeological Department.