The Victory War Memorial in Chennai will continue to be lit up thanks to the Chennai city corporation as it has now taken up the responsibility of bearing the expenses for lighting and other electrical equipment on the monument, since the Army claimed its inability to bear expenses, reported The Times of India.
This decision was taken after a meeting between both the parties and was coordinated by the secretary, public department at secretariat complex in March, the report says.
During the meeting, the General Officer Commanding of the Dakshin Bharat Area requested to help settle the bills, amounting to Rs. 5.72 pending since 2012, of the memorial as the initial amount allocated for the memorial was insufficient.
The Army also requested the Tamil Nadu government to grant the war memorial a heritage status. Moreover, the minutes of the meeting said that it was for the state tourism department that the scale of lighting was improved at the memorial.
The Army also stated that they had asked Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) to exempt them from paying electricity bills for the memorial but they had refused and said that such exemption was not possible, reported TOI.
In the meeting, the public department’s secretary maintaining the War Memorial was important as it is a “matter of prestige” and it was important to provide continuous power supply to the memorial.
The deputy commissioner (works) said that a special resolution will be taken up to allow the corporation to take up the payment of bills and maintaining the electrical installations. Moreover, they will ask help from the state government to pay up the dues.
The Victory War Memorial is situated on the Beach Road on Rajaji Salai and it was built to honour the soldiers who died during World Wars.