Row erupts over Kusumagraj memorial

NASHIK, JUNE 17: The Nashik Municipal Corporation NMC and the State Government seem to be on a collision course over the site for build...

NASHIK, JUNE 17: The Nashik Municipal Corporation NMC and the State Government seem to be on a collision course over the site for building of a memorial of the late Jnanpith Award winner Marathi poet and playwright Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar better known as Kusumagraj, who passed away on March 10 this year.

The State Government has announced that a Rs 5.25 crore memorial would be built in Nashik but had not specified the site while State Health Minister Dr Daulatrao Aher said teh memorial would be created near the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Municipal swimming pool along Trimbak Road.

But the plot near the swimming pool has been earmarked by the NMC for creating a planetarium, a traffic park and a ladies swimming pool. The Mayor Dr Shobhatai Bachhav and other members of the NMC have opposed the creation of the memorial on the plot.

According to a spokesperson of the Kusumagraj Pratishthan, a proposal for the memorial had been submitted to the NMC and a copy had been submitted to Chief Minister Narayan Rane about a month ago. The proposal includes a garden, a museum, a planetarium, a reading room, a library and a theatre on the 6,000 squre metre plot near Bavarkar Swimming pool. The site had been suggested as it was near Kusumgraj8217;s residence.

The NMC officials pointed out that no written communication from the State Government on the issue had yet been received. They stated that plans and estimates for the civic projects on the land were ready. The former NMC standing committee chairman Shahu Khaire has urged the Pratisthan to create the memorial elsewhere or convert Kusumagraj8217;s residence into a memorial. The house belonging to the NMC was given to the poet and is now the office of the Pratisthan, while the land near Savarkar Swimming Pool belongs to the State Government and has been given on lease to the NMC.