Path clear for monument at Pune's Bhidewada - where Phule couple started India's first girl school in 1848

Mumbai, Oct 16 (IANS) In a major ruling, the Bombay High Court on Monday paved the way for a proposed national monument to come up in historic Bhidewada, the site where Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule started India's first girls school on January 1, 1848.

Ending a 23-year-long litigation in various courts, the high court rejected a plea made by the current owner and 24 tenants who opposed the takeover plan of the property by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to construct a national memorial dedicated to the Phule couple in Bhidewada.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, PMC Commissioner Vikram Kumar, Legal Advisor Nisha Chavan and others have welcomed the verdict, terming it as ‘historic’ and appropriate during the ongoing auspicious Navratri festival.

175 years ago, the Phule couple lit the first lamp for girls’ education by starting a small school in Bhidewada, in Budhwar Peth area of Pune, despite strong opposition and protests, at the property then owned by Tatyasaheb Bhide.

For the past over three decades, there were demands from various quarters to raze the existing dilapidated structures in Bhidewada and construct a grand monument to honour the Phule couple, and even award them a Bharat Ratna posthumously.

From February 2006, the PMC had initiated the process to acquire the small chunk measuring around 3,500 feet (327 square metres), and the District Collectorate even cleared a compensation amount of Rs 1.30 crore.

However, the present owners, Pune Merchant Cooperative Bank, and its two dozen tenants had opposed the move, and they challenged it up to the Supreme Court, which transferred it back to the high court which delivered its verdict on Monday.

The PMC’s legal team said that now, with the judgement in its favour, they would soon revive the process to take over the property and set the ball rolling for building a national monument for the Phule couple there.

Leaders of other parties including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party factions, Shiv Sena (UBT), and others have hailed the high court judgement and urged that the work on the national memorial should be taken up on priority.