400-Year-Old ‘Pigeon Tower’ in Odisha’s Ganjam Turns A Monument Of Neglect

Berhampur: A 400-year-old ‘Pigeon Tower’ in Odisha’s Ganjam district lies neglected and abandoned due to lack of maintenance.

“The 40 ft high tower, situated at Potagada near Ganjam town, used to accommodate about 1000 pigeons who were engaged in pigeon postal service. The pigeon post was first introduced while the Nizam of Hyderabad invaded Ganjam in 1604,” said historian Anantaram Kar.

“The British rulers continued the pigeon post after they invaded Ganjam in 1770. The British rulers of Ganjam were in regular contact with their Madras counterparts 1,075 km away with pigeon post, he added.

He further said the history of Potagada fort is aligned with the history of the Ganjam collectorate that involved Ganjam, Northern Circars, the French government, Madras presidency, Bengal presidency and the East India Company as a whole. Many rulers used Potagada as their administrative headquarters to rule over the region.

“The remnants of the fort tell stories of their administrative procedures. TJ Maltby, who was a civil servant in Madras presidency, spoke about the fort in his Ganjam District Manual in 1900,” Kar added.

With the advent of modern communication systems, the process of delivering messages has transformed a lot. But the abandoned Pigeon Tower at Potagada attracts many curious eyes who demand to declare it as a heritage tower.

“If we didn’t have the Internet providing us instant connectivity to every corner of the globe, we might still be using the pigeon post today,” they commented.