Chennai Collector V Anbuselvan inspects Poes Garden House
The exercise was carried out with tahsildars, revenue officers and a few I-T officials.
Chennai: The state government’s recent announcement to convert the residence of AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa into a memorial gained momentum on Saturday with Chennai collector V. Anbuselvan inspecting the spacious bungalow at posh Poes Garden along with revenue officials.
The exercise was carried out with tahsildars, revenue officers and a few I-T officials joining the district collector amidst tight security. Though no official communication from the state regarding the inspection by the Chennai collectorate that lasted for more than an hour. Sources said that second phase of evaluation to convert the building into a memorial was taken up. Stock on the items used by the former CM was tabulated and things that have to be kept as a public display are now being studied.
The additional infrastructure that has to be developed for the memorial are also under examination, informed sources said. It may be noted that in November I-T officials raided the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa and took possession of laptop, desktop and a few pen drives. The first inspection by the revenue officials was taken a few months ago ahead of the merger of the two AIADMK factions led Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. The sprawling house spread over 24,000 square feet with a built-up area of above 21,000 square feet enjoys a market value of above Rs 100 crore.
“The government should not delay the conversion to a memorial and the campaign for Amma memorial started in early February. The state should clear the legal hurdles that delay the coming up of Amma memorial”, said Poonga Nagar Selvam, a north Chennai AIADMK functionary.