Veeresalingam’s Town Hall Seeks Donations for Maintenance
Veerasalingam built six shops and gave them out for rent and used the earnings for the maintenance of the town hall.;
Kakinada: The Rajamahendri Pura Mandiram or Rajahmundry Town Hall, built by prominent social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu, is seeking donations for its maintenance.
The historic town hall is now in a pathetic condition with no water even for cleaning toilets, as the income sources have dried up. The billiard board was also damaged and nobody came forward to repair it.
Veeresalingam vigorously campaigned to create awareness among the people for remarriage of widows, condemned the superstitious traditions and customs, and hailed the greatness of Brahma Samaj principles etc. Traditionalists, incensed at this, turned against him and denied all public facilities to him, including letting out of halls to hold his meetings. Veeresalingam had removed his Yaznopavitha too.
In view of this social isolation, Veeresalingam bought 1760 sq.yards of land in the heart of the town and built a building along with a prayer mandir (80 sq.yards). He encouraged scientific temper, helped in the remarriage of widows on Brahma Samaj style etc.
A social reformer, he also campaigned against consumption of non-vegetarian food, anti-social activities, traditional marriage functions, political events etc. He formed a Trust in 1897 with 10 members, consisting of some Brahmins, one each member from the Vysya, Sudra, Muslim, Christian communities, all of them graduates. The first trust board was formed with Nyapathi Subba Rao as its president, Chitrapu Venkatachalam as secretarty, Kocharlakota Ramachandra Venka Krishna Rao the Polavaram Zamindar), Neti Venkata Somayajulu, Nalam Padmanabham, Khaja Ahamudhulla Saheb, Rebbapragada Peda Papayya, K Rameswara Rao, K Sitha Ramachandra Rao the Dharmavaram Samsthanam Zamindar, an American Lutheran missionary and others.
Veerasalingam built six shops and gave them out for rent and used the earnings for the maintenance of the town hall.
Prominent Freedom Fighters like Bipinchandrapal, Mahatma Gandhi, Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam, Suryarao Bahadur (Pithapuram Raja), Subhash Chandra Bose, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Desiraju Pedapapayya and others visited the town hall and addressed meetings. There were
programmes like Kavi Sammelanams, prayers etc till some 10 years ago.
Later, the Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation demolished the six shops, while led to a stoppage of the revenue to the Town Hall, stated its secretary Jammi Rama Rao.
“We urge the state government to grant funds for renovating the town hall and for its maintenance. Some time ago, the government had sanctioned Rs 64 lakh, which helped in some construction activities in the town hall land,” he said.
Town hall president and advocate Madduri Siva Subba Rao told Deccan Chronicle that the trust board has plans to mobilize a corpus fund to maintain the facility.
“We would require a minimum of Rs 5 crore. Its interest can help pay the salaries to five or six staff. Efforts would be made to develop the town hall and restore the old-glory to the hall,” he said and urged the followers of Veeresalingam Pantulu to help develop the hall.