Coimbatore Corporation office likely to move to new premises

Plans afoot to shift office to spacious premises at Gandhipuram

Victoria Town Hall in the city. Photo: M. Periasamy

Town Hall, the iconic British era building, may not be the seat of the Coimbatore Corporation, if plans under discussion are anything to go by.

According to sources, the civic body is mulling shifting its establishment to spacious premises, which it plans to construct in Gandhipuram.

The sources say that the plans are at a preliminary stage and have not moved even to the drawing board.

Facilities

The idea is to have the new premises on an arterial road with all modern facilities giving easier access to people.

This effectively means that the civic body’s earlier proposal to construct the new Council hall on a plot behind the present Council hall – Victoria Town Hall – is shelved.

The Corporation had in 2012 decided to construct the new council after it became evident that the Victoria Town Hall was not spacious enough to accommodate 100 councillors, officials and journalists at Council meetings.

In the new plan, according to sources, the Corporation will have the offices of mayor, commissioner, deputy commissioner, engineering wing, personnel department, accounts department, town planning section and other departments.

The Victoria Town Hall will turn into a heritage building housing museum and host activities related to the city’s history. It will be a welcome move, if the Corporation were to use the Victoria Town Hall as a museum, says S.Ramachandra Prasad, Co-Convenor, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

It will help the city showcase its 2,000-year-old history and the Town Hall is one of the most favourable places.