E-Paper
HC rejects tenants’ plea, Bhide Wada set to become national monument
The high court in its ruling has asked the landowners and tenants to handover the land to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for building the monument
Pune: After a long legal battle, hurdles for the proposed national monument at Bhide Wada, where social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule started India’s first girls’ school, have been cleared as the Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the plea by tenants unwilling to vacate the place, a release from chief minister’s office (CMO) stated.
The high court in its ruling has asked the landowners and tenants to handover the land to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for building the monument.
India’s first school for girls was started by the Phules at the historic Bhide Wada in Pune on January 1, 1848. The structure is currently in shambles, and unfortunately, even after so many years, the authorities have not been able to redevelop it. Bhide Wada is located opposite Shreemant Dagdusheth Ganesh Temple.
In their order, the High Court Division Bench of Justice Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata allowed the government and local body to acquire Bhide Wada.
“With the high court order, the path to build the monument at Bhide Wada has been cleared. We welcome the court ruling arrived during the Navratri,” said chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar said, “Now that the high court has passed the order, owners cannot stop any such project for long duration and work can begin soon.”
PMC had passed the resolution in 2006 to acquire Bhide Wada and develop a memorial on the land, but it faced opposition from the landowners.
The Poona Merchant Chamber that owns the wada that houses 24 tenants approached the court and challenged the PMC proposal.
Various political parties staged many agitations over the years in support of the memorial, but PMC could not go ahead with the plan because of legal issues.
Recently, chief minister Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took a review meeting and instructed the administration to speed up the process as the Maharashtra government wants to erect a memorial at the wada.
The then Pune district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil took various meetings and tried to settle the matter with discussions.
Patil said, “The advocate general presented the case effectively due to which HC has given the judgement. The court’s judgement is historical and now the hurdles have been cleared. The memorial work will start soon.”
All the political parties have welcomed the court’s decision. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party and Republican Party of India celebrated the court’s order on Bhide Wada Monday evening.
Presently, the wada, the then home of Tatya Saheb Bhide, who was inspired by the Phules’ work, has crumbling walls, broken wooden doors and windows, and a floor that is mostly covered with grass.
As per the original plan, the government proposes to build a seven-storey structure that will have five floors reserved for the school. The floors will be equipped with modern amenities and the school will be run by PMC. The building’s basement will house shops that are presently running.
