Work on renovating ‘medai police station’, an 8th century structure built during the Pandya dynasty and used later by the British government as their armoury, was started on Tuesday without defacing its ancientness and glory.
Minister for Industries Thangam Thennarasu inaugurated the work, to be executed under ‘Smart City Project’ on an outlay of ₹3.06 crore, in the presence of Speaker M. Appavu. Thanks to the efforts taken by Collector V. Vishnu, it was decided to give a new lease of life to the neglected structure behind the Corporation’s Palayamkottai Zone Office.
According to writers and Tamil scholars of Tirunelveli, this structure was the western entrance of a sprawling fort built by the Pandya Kings in the 8th century for stationing a minimum of 1,000 soldiers. Since the Pandya Kings were ruling the areas up to composite Tirunelveli district, they had to station 1,000 soldiers here.
After the Pandya Kingdom lost its control over the southern region, this fort fell in the hands of the ‘Palayakkarars’, and the fort started crumbling due to poor maintenance. Then the badly maintained fort came under the control of the British.
“The fort’s eastern entrance is the structure that now houses the government museum near the District Police Office. It was in this structure that Kattabomman’s younger brother Oomaithurai was imprisoned. And, the western entrance was used later by the British as their armoury. After independence, it was converted into a police station. Since the police station was sitting atop the 30-foot-wide western entrance compound wall, it was christened as ‘Medai Police Station’ near Mela Vasal Subramaniya Swamy Temple,” says writer Narumpoonathan.
Tamil teacher G. Ganapathi Subramanian endorses this view.
After being used by several wings of the Tamil Nadu Police, including the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, it rapidly crumbled due to neglect. The two rooms used by the police, the granite steps leading to the erstwhile police station and the terrace are in a bad shape now.
When it was brought to his notice, Mr. Vishnu discussed with Corporation Commissioner B. Vishnu Chandran its renovation without disfiguring its ancient look under ‘Smart City’ project.
“The walls of the ancient fort will be given ‘lime plastering’ for strengthening. We’ve planned to tell the younger generation and the tourists visiting Tirunelveli about the ancientness of this town by keeping in the renovated remnant of the fort’s paintings in digital format,” says Mr. Vishnu.
As part of the renovation plan, a historical park with South Asian and West Asian flavour on an area of 345 square metre will come up at the entrance. A cannon will be installed at the centre with ornamental lights while the four pillars with iron balls used in the cannons will be stationed at the four corners of the park.
Besides giving stone rails along the steps that leads to the ‘medai police station’, ‘information walls’, narrating the history of the structure, will be installed along the path. A projector and screen will also be installed at the terrace. An information board detailing the Indian history in photos will also be displayed.
“This place of neglect will soon become a major tourist attraction,” said Mr. Vishnu.
