Once functioning as a stable for horses of the British army during 19th century, the dilapidated tile-roofed Forest Range office on the West Main Road on the outskirts of Arani town in Tiruvannamalai will soon get its own building.
The District Forest Officer, Mr. Arul Lal, has written to the Collector B. Murugesh to transfer the existing 0.28 hectare of land where the range office is located from the Department of Prisons to the Forest Department to construct a new building at a cost of ₹20 lakh. “We have got a positive response from the district administration for the project. We hope that the required land for the new office will be transferred to us soon,” Mr. Arun Lal told The Hindu.
Located on the premises of the palace built in 1850, the forest range office has been functioning from a small room since 1973 when Polur range office was bifurcated. Since then, the office has been catering to the needs of at least 20 forest staff. As per norms, a forest range office should have a separate cabin for the range officer, weapons room, records room, visitors hall and a washroom. However, the British era stable has only one room.
Most of the structure was damaged with cracks on its walls. Broken tiles on its roof can be seen. Inundation of the office during monsoon is common. Thick vegetation has also grown all around the building. Broken toilets and water pipelines have not been repaired for years.
Of the 12 forest range offices including Chengam, Sathanur, Jamunamarathor and Thanipadi in Tiruvannamalai district, Arani forest range covers the largest revenue area from Arani town to Cheyyar town, a distance of around 60 km. A total of 5,775 hectares of RF land comes under Arani range with eight special teams patrolling them every day. Each team has at least a forester and a guard on duty. Peacocks and wild boars are more commonly found in the Arani range than spotted deer.
Local historians said that the range office once served as a stable for horses of the British army after the fort was built by the 10th Arni Jagir, Srinivasa Rao Sahib, in 1850. A Britisher, William Pogson, was the architect of the fort that features British-style architecture including Madras Terrace and chimneys.
