Mumbai, Dec 24 (PTI) A high-level committee has been set up to prepare a draft plan for the development and beautification of the Koregaon Bhima memorial in Pune district, the Maharashtra government told the Legislative Assembly on Friday.
Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde made this announcement.
“The social justice department has set up a high-level committee. Its report is expected in two months,” he said.
The district collector of Pune district has been directed to expedite the land acquisition process and the required budgetary allocation has also been approved by the department, he said.
More than five lakh people visit the Vijay Stambh at Koregaon Bhima on January 1 every year. The social justice department has been entrusted the job of beautification and development of the premises, Munde said.
On January 1, 2018, violent clashes had broken out in the area around Koregaon Bhima on the 200th anniversary of the 1818 battle. One one person was killed and several others were injured in the clashes.
In the 1818 battle, the East India Company’s forces, which included sepoys of Mahar caste, a Dalit community, had defeated the army of the Brahmin Peshwa ruler of Pune. Dalits commemorate the victory as a symbol of defeat of the old Brahmanical order.
Police had claimed that inflammatory statements made a day earlier at Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune city, allegedly backed by Maoists, led to the violence. PTI MR NP NP
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