Grateful to PM for defusing Indu Mill row: Chavan

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for defusing the raging controversy regarding handing over of the Indu Mill land in Mumbai for construction of a memorial of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Maharashtra government is grateful to the Prime Minister for sorting out the Indu Mill land issue. The way for constructing the memorial of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is now cleared, he told reporters on the sidelines of a function held to dedicate to nation the memorial of Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis,the Indian doctor who became famous for his selfless work in China during the Sino-Japan war.

The Prime Minister on Saturday gave his in-principle approval to develop a memorial of the Dalit icon on the Indu Mill land at Dadar in Central Mumbai. The land is currently under possession of the National Textile Corporation.

The issue was hanging fire since Dalit activists forcefully took possession of a portion of the now defunct mill on December 6 death anniversary of Ambedkar demanding handing over of the entire 12.5 acres of land for the purpose.

The Maharashtra Assembly had recently passed a resolution backing the demand for handing over the entire land for the purpose.