Hospital plan stuck,Mayawati memorials may now house govt offices

After the chief minister’s announcement on hospitals,Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani and other senior government officials had inspected all memorials and parks in the city on April 29.

An official said any big construction was not possible without razing the existing structures at most of the memorials and parks. But the chief minister had clearly stated that the government wanted to use the vacant land,without damaging any structure.

However,there are two places where empty spaces were available and construction was possible. These are the Kanshiram Sanskritik Sthal in Ashiana and the ‘buffer zone’ between the Kanshiram Memorial and the Kanshiram Green Eco Garden. “At Sanskritik Sthal,perhaps a college building can be constructed. But in the ‘buffer zone’ between the other two memorials,demolition of boundary walls and some structures would be required which the government does not want to do,” said an official.

The Sanskritik Sthal is used for organising the annual Lucknow Mahotsav,which,said an official,does not require so much space. Also,no structure will have to be demolished to find land for constructing a college there.

But officials have identified six buildings which could be used to house government offices. These include two administrative blocks of Bhimrao Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal in Gomti Nagar,administrative blocks of Kanshiram Memorial,Kanshiram Green Eco Garden,Buddha Vihar Shanti Upwan on the VIP road and the Ramabai Ambedkar Rally Sthal.

During the inspection,officials found that large parts of the administrative buildings were lying unused. “The area of these administrative blocks is far more than the requirement of the staff there,” said an LDA official.

For example,administrative block-1 of the Ambedkar Memorial in Gomti Nagar is a three-floor building,with a carpet area of 1,600 sq mt. It was constructed after demolishing the office of the Crime Branch. “Now,not more than 15 staff members use that office. The building also has a conference hall,and offices for LDA vice-chairman and secretary who visit once in a week,” said an official.