NASHIK, APRIL 6: Controversial Social Welfare Minister Babanrao Gholap was gheraoed by local residents in his hometown Vihitgaon on Sunday to protest against his plan to construct a school on a plot reserved for a garden.A group of residents, led by Congress corporator Lankabai Hagawane, gheraoed Gholap when he went to the plot to perform the bhoomi pooja. The Minister told agitators that the plot had been leased out to his B G Shikshan Sanstha by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). The agitators, however, submitted a memorandum to him and boycotted the function.City unit president of the Shiv Sena, Datta Gaikwad, told The Indian Express that the plot had been in the sanstha's possession since the last seven months. Only four classrooms were to be constructed to run a primary school, he said, adding that the NMC had legally handed over the plot to the institute.However, civic officials confirmed that the plot (CS No 18), measuring 1.5 acres and valued at Rs 60 lakh, had beenreserved for a garden. In fact, they said, the corporation had made a provision of Rs 6.5 lakh in its 1997-98 budget to construct a compound wall around the plot and work is in progress. Curiously, civic engineer N S Bodke had allegedly encroached on a portion of the land by constructing a residential structure there.When the structure was proposed to be demolished about six months ago, the Shiv Sena instead moved a proposal in the NMC to hand the plot over to the B G Shikshan Sanstha.The land was finally transferred to the institute five months ago with an assurance that it would not to build on more than five per cent of the area. Gholap assured residents on Sunday that the proposed classrooms would not exceed this area. The rest, he said, would be turned into a garden and a children's park.
