State hands over Rs87 crore for Lahuji Vastad Salve memorial

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar handed over the cheque to Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar and Pune district collector Vikas Deshmukh

The Maharashtra government on Friday handed over Rs87 crore for land acquisition for Krantiveer Lahuji Vastad Salve memorial at Sangamwadi. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar handed over the cheque to Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar and Pune district collector Vikas Deshmukh.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar instructed officials to chalk out a detailed plan for the memorial and finish the project. (HT PHOTO)

Residents have staged many agitations over their long-pending demand to erect the memorial of Salve at Sangamwadi. Later, the state government promised to provide assistance to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for land acquisition.

The cheque was handed over at the function organised by social welfare department.

Pawar instructed officials to chalk out a detailed plan for the memorial and finish the project.

Salve was an activist, thinker, social reformer and revolutionary, from the untouchable ‘Mang’ caste. One of the many forgotten freedom fighters, he hailed from Purandar in Maharashtra.