Heritage style for Mysuru Deputy Commissioner's office

Mysuru: The City of Palaces with more than 200 heritage structures will soon have one more on the list. The Union government has consented to grant surplus land of 15 acres of the Government of India Textbook Press in Mysuru to the state government to construct the deputy commissioner (DC) office complex here on Wednesday.

The new building will come up to resemble the architecture of  heritage structures of the city. The sketch is already ready, said Deputy Commissioner Ms C. Shikha.

While currently the DC’s office is housed in the 125-year-old heritage structure at the heart of the city, the new building will be coming up near Government of India Textbook Press which is popularly known as German Press.

While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had allotted Rs 35 crores for the construction of the DC office complex in the budget of 2014-15, DC of Mysuru Ms Shikha had identified 16.53 acres of land which was surplus with German Press.

As much as 100 acres of land was handed over to the Central Government by the Government of Mysuru earlier in 1953. Mr Siddaramaiah had written to the Central government on 10 February 2015 while  Mysuru-Kodagu MP Mr Pratap Simha   had also written on the subject on January 21, 2015.

Initially the proposal was rejected as the concerned secretary stated that they had plans to expand the press. “I had to explain that the press is almost defunct with hardly 30 employees working there instead of 140 a decade ago. The Central government was convinced and the order was handed over to the CM on Wednesday,” Mr Simha said.

As many as 20 offices which are located in different parts of the city will be shifted to the new complex.