Stay order on heritage tower razing

As citizens protest against building of a mall in the charitable trust space, action is taken

Stay order on heritage tower razing

As citizens protest against building of a mall in the charitable trust space, action is taken

Nearly five months after Sunday MiD DAY reported the razing of a 150-year-old heritage structure which housed the old wing of Rukmanibai Hospital in Kalyan (W), local residents have a reason to smile Maharashtra State Department of Archaeology has now issued a stay order, to stop further demolishing on the site.

A moat-like trench around the Rukmanibai Hospital tower

The hospital structure, which stands on over 11,000 square metres of prime land, has been completely demolished except for a tower house, to accommodate a sprawling mall. This has become a matter of dispute between the local residents and the civic authorities.

Earlier this year, the hospital structure was in the news after up to 50 silver and copper coins, believed to be minted during the British Raj, were excavated from the site, when the demolishing work was in progress.

Dharamrakshit Ramteke, a local activist said that concerned citizen bodies had pasted hundreds of copies of the Sunday MiD DAY article all across Kalyan and subsequently initiated a signature campaign, against the proposed mall.

"In the last couple of months, the locals managed to exert enough pressure on the civic bodies, including the State Archeological Department to initiate action. Surprisingly, there were many people in Kalyan who have been residing here for ages, but were not aware of the situation, before they read it in the paper,'" said Ramteke.

According to Municipal Corporator Stella Morais of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation, the stay order was a welcome development, but public pressure has to be maintained if the citizens desire a hospital to be rebuilt in that space.

She added that an area donated for a charitable cause should be utilised accordingly and the huge plot could be used to construct a "multi-facility, charitable hospital, with specialty wards for maternity, pediatrics, dialysis and blood bank".

"Though the work has officially stopped, I believe that the heavy duty machines, which are still present on the cordoned site, are being operated at night. Furthermore, the debris collected from the broken structure is being piled up against the remaining tower, which is surrounded by a deep moat-like trench, so that it collapses on its own in the forthcoming monsoons (see pic)," Morais alleged.

Bajirao Gajbhiye, Director, State Archeological Department, who signed the stay order, said that his team was planning to visit the site on Monday to ascertain the extent of damage.

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