PMC floats tender for Lahuji Vastad memorial at Sangamwadi

The Maharashtra government had approved Rs81 crore for Lahuji Vastad Memorial in both the 2017 and 2023 budgets

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has floated the tender for erecting the memorial of the revolutionary Lahuji Vastad Salve at Sangamwadi.

The PMC had already acquired the necessary funding. Construction of the memorial was delayed twice as a result of a protracted legal battle. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The Maharashtra government had approved Rs81 crore for Lahuji Vastad Memorial in both the 2017 and 2023 budgets. The PMC had already acquired the necessary funding. Construction of the memorial was delayed twice as a result of a protracted legal battle.

The landowners of the plot where the memorial is proposed to be built were not ready to vacate the property and a case in this regard went to the High Court. The High Court in the year 2022 had given a decision in favour of the PMC. But as the plot is reserved for an art gallery, recently PMC put the proposal in front of the city improvement committee and changed the reservation from art gallery to memorial.

After completing all the processes, finally PMC on Friday floated the tender for erecting the memorial at Sangamwadi.

Salve, a member of the untouchable ‘Mang’ caste, was an activist, thinker, social reformer, and revolutionary. He was from Purandar in Maharashtra, and he was one of many forgotten liberation fighters.