The Times of India 22.08.2012
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to raise Rs 3L bill for memorial damage
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is all set to recover the cost of the damaged Amar Jyoti Jawan, which was destroyed in the mob violence during the Assam
protests. The civic body is likely to put up a bill to the tune of Rs 3
lakh towards the reconstruction of the historical memorial.
The bill will be handed over to the Mumbai police. Confirming the development, Mohan Adtani,
additional municipal commissioner, told TOI, “The bill is ready to be
handed over to the police. The cost of the damage will be included in
the panchnama.” The Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act prevents the civic
body from directly liasoning with the organizers of the protest.
Recovery of the damages is certainly the first priority of the civic
body. Mayor Sunil Prabhu
said, “At this point of time, we just need to recover the cost of the
damages. We have pumped in our money to restore the historical
memorial.”
The August 11 violence has once again brought to the
fore the culture of vandalism that the city has witnessed in the past.
Activist Teesta Setalvad, secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace told
TOI, “Damages should undoubtedly be claimed when violence destroys
public property with culpability for the damages being pinned on the
organizers. It is, however, also critical that such action is
universally applied and details be made public–specifically damages for
August 11 should be recovered as also for the 42 Best buses destroyed
by political parties (be it SS or MNS) in earlier protests. The law must
work even-handedly without fear or favour.”
The memorial, which was unveiled in 2009, was erected in memory of two Indian soldiers — Sayyed Hussein and Mangal Cadiya — who were martyred during 1857 mutiny. During the revolt, both the sepoys were blown apart by cannon fire near Azad Maidan after they refused to follow orders from their commanding officer.
Rs 5 lakh for info on vandals
Independent MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar
on Tuesday announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to anyone providing credible
information to police about the vandals who desecrated the 1857
Martyrs’ Memorial. Maintaining that the people who vandalized the
memorial do not belong to any faith or religion, Chandrasekhar in a
press release said, “The perpetrators must be apprehended at the
earliest and brought to justice.
“These vandals have disgraced
hundreds and thousands of people from all faiths and parts of India and
those within and outside of armed forces who have served and protected
the nation in time of war and in time of peace.”
