After several years, the heritage buildings belonging to the Department of Posts are set to get a makeover. To start with, the department has sought the guidance of the Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai Circle, to renovate the Chennai General Post Office.
Spread over 66,000 sq.ft., the Chennai GPO suffered a fire accident and roof collapse in the past 17 years, which rendered a portion of the building unusable. A portion of the building underwent restoration a decade ago. However, a portion of the roof on the second floor of the building collapsed in 2011. A team of officials from the postal department and ASI inspected the site on Rajaji Salai on Monday to assess the damage.
Chennai GPO was initially opened in Fort St.George in June 1786 and was moved to its present quarters, a building constructed in Indo-Saracenic style in 1884. It covers an area of about 23.3 sq.km. for postal operations and serves a population of nearly 2.5 lakh, officials noted.
M. Sampath, Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu circle, said: “We plan to start work to conserve the heritage building based on the advice of ASI and prepare an estimate for the project. Only the left portion of the 133-year-old building is being used for postal operations now. It does not have sub post offices or branch post offices.”
The department has also started the process to renovate the Electric Theatre, which houses the Philately Bureau now. Located in the Anna Road Head Post Office, silent movies were screened in 1913 at the Electric Theatre. The other buildings, such as Anna Road HPO, were built later. Officials said plans were on to renovate the building that hosts philately exhibitions and also is the centre to book and purchase ‘My Stamps.’
Though only four or five buildings, including head post offices in Nagapattinam and Udhagamandalam, have been recognised as heritage buildings, the department has about 60 buildings that are nearly a century old across the State.
Officials of the postal department said that while the Udhagamandalam HPO was built in 1884, the one in Nagapattinam was constructed in 1920. However, there are several other buildings that are over a century old, such as Thanjavur head post office and the Office of the General Manager Postal Accounts and Finance on Ethiraj Salai, Chennai. Work would be taken up to restore other buildings.
