Pune: A restoration work has compromised a monument of great historical importance. City based researchers claim that one such act by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) while carrying out river restoration project has resulted into destruction of an ancient shilalekh (inscription/gravestone) from the city. The shilalekh was built back in 1850's on Bund Garden Bandhara (bunding) in the city in the British era. It was in scripted in three languages- Marathi, Gujrati and English.
The stone inscription comprised information like the cost required for building the bund wall, contribution of people and other details about the construction that took place that time. There was one more stone on the spot.
Sameer Naik, president of Mauli Seva Pratishthan (NGO) informed that even after constant communication with the Pune Municipal Corporation and the mayor about the importance of these stones, the PMC did not pay any heed. He further said, "There were two stones present where the construction work is on. Out of which one was in English and the other had a combination of three languages. In the course of the ongoing construction work, the stone inscripted in the three languages was destroyed by the corporation department last week. When we got to know about the river development, we wrote letters to the heritage cell of the PMC telling them about the historical importance of the stone and how it should be preserved. They did assure us but the stone was destroyed anyway. Even on the day of the actual construction, we made calls to the officers concerned to stop the work but unfortunately the officers present at the venue were not aware of the historical value of the monument; apparently they broke it into pieces and used the very parts to build the wall at the site. It is disturbing. A little co-ordination between the cell and the officials from the river restoration department would have saved the archaic stones."
Pune still has few such historical monuments around the city. Many of which are found at the riverbanks. Whenever these restoration or development works happen, officials and labourers working at the site are unaware of the importance of the memorabilia. Researchers have been demanding for co-ordination between the heritage cell and the other PMC departments in attempt to preserve them.
Researcher Mandar Lawate said, "the shilalekh was built back in the 1850s by the British. The work had taken place from 1844 to 1850. These are the monuments that needed to be preserved for its great historical importance. It was a careless move by the PMC when they destroyed it just because it was a hurdle in river restoration work. This way, unfortunately, we are losing our assets at a fast pace."
Shyam Dhavale, head of the heritage department of the PMC, upon hearing about the incident said, "I am aware that this act has taken place. The stone was already cracked and there was no way to remove it safely and place it somewhere else. There should have been co-ordination between two departments. We will make sure that such incidents don't happen in future and I will try to recollect the stones to see if they could be restored."
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