PUNE: The real tribute to late Babasaheb Purandare would be to complete his dream project, Shivsrushti, which remains unfinished due to financial problems, historian Pandurang Balkawde has said.
“To create Shivsrushti was late Babasaheb Purandare’s biggest dream which remains incomplete. The Shivsrushti is located at Ambegaon; some works have been completed while many others remain incomplete due to financial problems,” Balkawde said.
Late Babasaheb Purandare used the income received from the sale of tickets of his mega play, “Janta Raja” to create Shivsrushti where both scholars and commoners would get all the information about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Maratha Empire. He purchased 27 acre land at Ambegaon through the Maharaja Shivchhatrapati Pratishthan under the Shiv Sena government led by the then chief minister Manohar Joshi.
“Babasaheb spent Rs25 crore from his own pocket (sale of tickets of ‘Janta Raja’) on the project. However, a lot more money was required and Babasaheb tried to raise it. The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) generated around Rs50 crore for the project. Even the state government promised some money but handed over to him Rs5 crore under the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,” Balkawde said.
“Around Rs80 crore has already been spent on the project but if we want to pay real tribute to Babasaheb, we need to complete this project which will be a world attraction in future,” Balkawde added.
{{/usCountry}}“Around Rs80 crore has already been spent on the project but if we want to pay real tribute to Babasaheb, we need to complete this project which will be a world attraction in future,” Balkawde added.
{{/usCountry}}The then BJP government under chief minister Devendra Fadnavis granted “mega project” status to Shivsrushti which created controversy at the time as there were two Shivsrushtis planned in the city – one by Babasaheb’s trust and the other by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).
What is Shivsrushti?
Late Babasaheb Purandare travelled all over the world and saw various memorials and parks following which he questioned why there was no such memorial dedicated to Shivaji Maharaj, where citizens would get all the information about the Maratha warrior-king and his various pursuits. It was a dream and Babasaheb began pursuing it, starting with the purchase of land at Ambegaon and meetings with various historians, architects and people from all walks of life.
Today, the Sarkarwada building has been completed and even the replica of the Bhavani Mata temple located at Pratapgad is near complete. Babasaheb wanted to display how Shivaji Maharaj fought, which is why one tank was proposed within the memorial. He wanted the library located within the memorial premises to house all the books on Shivaji Maharaj so that citizens and students could refer to them whenever needed. He planned to erect a replica of Raigad hall (darbar) where Shivaji Maharaj pronounced his accession as Maharaj.