COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore district administration has sought a detailed report regarding the shifting of oil press, operated by freedom fighter VO Chidambaram Pillai when he was lodged at Coimbatore Central Prison, to a safe location as the prisons department is constructing a new prison campus at Onnipalayam near Karamadai.
The collector has sent a letter to the superintendent of Coimbatore Central Prison based on a petition filed by functionaries of the Tamil Nadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram.
The organisation’s secretary V Vellingiri, and district secretary BB Ramani submitted a petition to the collector in July, seeking steps to retain the iconic wooden oil press operated by VO Chidambaram Pillai, popularly referred to as VOC.
“Though the oil press unit is located outside the prison cell, access was allowed only after seeking permission on VOC’s birthday on September 5, and his death anniversary on November 18. People are demanding to shift the oil press outside the prison campus to ease public access. With the construction of a new prison campus, the prisons department should leave the memorial with the oil press and the cell where VOC was lodged untouched, serving as a reminder of his struggle for freedom,” said BB Ramani, district secretary of the organisation.
Based on the organisation’s petition, Collector Pavankumar G Giriyappanavar has sent a letter to the prison superintendent to take action and submit a status report.
According to a senior official from the prisons department, a discussion is under way to integrate the VOC memorial into the Semmozhi Poonga, which is under construction on the prison campus.