Freedom fighter’s dilapidated house to be beautified

PANVEL: A 1,500-sq metre property in a state of ruin; its crumbling architecture a throwback to pre-British times. Enter the house of Vasudev Balwant Phadke — freedom fighter, revolutionary who led an armed struggle against the British in the 1800’s.

The good news is that the house, which has so far been in an abysmal state of neglect, will undergo restoration to be carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

ASI had taken over the property around 11 years ago. In 2008, former zilla parishad president Balaram Patil and Ram Bhoir decided to renovate the property. They roped in sculptor Arun Karekar to build a statue of Vasudev, which can now be seen in the premises. However, ASI officials did not grant permission to renovate the property.

However, a few years later, the issue came to light again. ‘I raised the renovation issue in the state assembly. I demanded that the government should allocate funds for beautification of Vasudev’s house,” said MLA Vivek Patil.

Responding to the demand, the state government held a meeting in 2010 and sought details of the structure. After asking the ASI to approve the beautification project, it decided to allocate funds for the same.

Responding to the state government’s demand, ASI announced that it would take up renovation of the historical structure.

ASI engineers prepared a proposal for the project, which is estimated to cost the state government around Rs1.73 crore.

A meeting was held between tehsildar Pawan Chandak and joint director of ASI Sanjay Patil in this regard recently. Both officials finalised the proposal.

The civil work will start after getting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from Vasudev’s family to carry out the project. The work is expected to take a year’s time to be complete.

BACHCHAN KUMAR Vasudev Balwant Phadke was part of the 19th century freedom struggle against the British empire. However, his house lies in ruins today.