RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: The historic Town Hall in Rajamahendravaram, which was constructed by social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu 132 years back, is crying for attention as it is not in a position to generate the Rs 50,000 amount that it needs for its monthly maintenance. Kandukuri Veeresalingam established the Town Hall in 1890 after 10 long years of struggle. The Trust is looking for donors to create a corpus fund for maintaining the hall.
In absence of donations, the trust members are apprehensive that it would push them to a situation where they have to hand over the building to the archaeology department. Incidentally, the 175th birth anniversary of Veeresalingam Panthulu was celebrated on Saturday. Veeresalingam stipulated stringent conditions for running the town hall, after his death. In his deed, he made it clear that the Town Hall should not be given to political parties for their meetings. There should not be any idol worship and bhajans in the hall and at the same time, any performances like the then prevalent vulgar dances should not be held there.
The Town Hall can only be used for widow re-marriages and the Brahma Samaj style weddings, Veeresalingam Panthulu’s deed said. This tied the hands of the trust from leasing out the hall for weddings involving huge expenditure.
Trust Secretary Jammi Ramarao and member and noted advocate M Sivasubbarao said they are fighting for protection of the town hall. ‘‘We need about Rs 4 - 5 crore as a corpus fund so that we get bank interest for running monthly activities,’’ they said adding the other option is to hand over the trust to the Central archeological department.