Valliappan Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai better known as VOC was born on 5 September 1872 and this political leader and disciple of Bal Gangadhar Tilak breathed his last on 18 November 1936. Today, to commemorate his death anniversary, a statue of this great leader was unveiled at Coimbatore Central Prison.
Several members of the public visited the premises, garlanded this statue and paid their tribute to this great leader. Currently, there are over a dozen statues of VOC Pillai erected across our country. To honour this great leader, India Posts and Telegraph department issued a special postage stamp on 5 September 1972, the centenary birthday celebrations of this great leader.
Today, in our city the oil press (chekku) that was used by him to extract oil manually will be open to public at the Central Prison grounds.