ASI throws a spanner in Mayawati8217;s dream project

LUCKNOW, Aug 8: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's dream project, the city's Parivartan Chowk, has come under a cloud following an obj...

LUCKNOW, Aug 8: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati8217;s dream project, the city8217;s Parivartan Chowk, has come under a cloud following an objection raised by the Archaeological Survey of India ASI. Terming the pentagonal tower constructed at the site as illegal, the ASI has asked the District Magistrate, Lucknow, and the State Public Works Department PWD to dismantle it.

In a fax message sent to the DM and the PWD, ASI Director Monuments R C Agarwal has said that the no objection certificate sought in connection with the tower cannot be given as fresh constructions are not allowed within 100-m radii of protected monuments. Two such monuments, Saadat Ali Khan Maqbara and Mushir Jadi8217;s memorial, are situated in the vicinity of the Parivartan Chowk.

The tower, on which the Mayawati Government has already spent crores of rupees, has been projected by the Bahujan Samaj Party BSP as a symbol of social change. The party first started developing the chowk during Mayawati8217;s first stint in power. But before the Chief Minister could complete it to her satisfaction, her government was thrown out.

The tower had also become a bone of contention between the BSP and the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP, which was supporting the then Mayawati Government from outside. The latter had not taken kindly to the installation by Mayawati of statues of BSP ideologues like Periyar, whom the BJP opposed for his writings against Rama. The issue was taken to court, which ruled that statues could not be installed within the chowk.

But Mayawati took up the project in right earnest soon after she came back to power on March 21. Despite protest from Opposition parties, several crores of rupees have been spent on the 8220;project8221;.

Shivpal Singh Yadav, brother of Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, has even filed an SLP in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court arguing that the chowk is a major traffic hazard. The case will come up for hearing on August 20.

The ASI8217;s objection now is expected to put a spanner in the works. The district administration and the PWD are in a fix as none wants to invoke Mayawati8217;s wrath by dismantling the tower. DM Jayshanker Mishra, for one, has passed the buck to the PWD, saying the issue was concerned with the department. However, he admitted he was consulting legal experts on the issue.