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Expedite work of Phulewada, Savitribai Phule monuments: deputy CM
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday directed the Pune administration to expedite the process to develop the national monument at Phulewada and Savitribai Phule memorial
Pune: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at a meeting held in the presence of food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Saturday directed the Pune administration to expedite the process to develop the national monument at Phulewada and Savitribai Phule memorial. Pawar instructed the administration for carry out land acquisition for the expansion of the monuments.
It was also informed that the Bhide wada school, the first school for girls started in Pune on January 1, 1848, by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule, to be declared a national memorial. The school, currently in a dilapidated state after it was shut down almost 15 years ago, will be developed by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The meeting was chaired by Pawar and also attended by Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar, district collector Rajesh Deshmukh and professor Hari Narke, who heads the Mahatma Phule chair in Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).
The meeting was attended by shopkeepers from Bhide wada and representatives of residents.
Pawar instructed that the land acquisition process for the expansion and development of the project should be done at the earliest to which district collector Deshmukh said that a proposal for the same would soon be formed and submitted.
Bhujbal, who attended the meet, said, “In 1984, Mahatma Phule and Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule started the first girls’ school at Bhidewada. Instead of just erecting statue at the place, a school building for girls at the same spot would be a real memorial to the social reformist duo.”
Pawar told the administration to hold a meeting regarding rehabilitation of commercial occupants and residents living in the same building in Bhidewada and chalk out the land acquisition process, and settle the matter amicably. He said that everyone should come forward to setting up the school as a good monument dedicated to the social reformers.
