Pune: The memorial of Vasudev Balwant Phadke on the premises of the old CID office at Sangamwadi has been renovated by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro).The memorial, which was established in 2006, has been lying in utter neglect due to poor maintenance for the last couple of years. TOI highlighted its poor state in the report published on August 15 this year.Former CID chief Jayant Umranikar, who had raised funds with the help of a social organisation to set up the memorial in 2006, said, After the report was published in TOI, we took up the issue with the authorities, including Maha Metro, to get the work completed on the 178th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter.The memorial is split into two sections. At the entrance is the bust of Phadke on a cement concrete cave. Phadke Swarupvardhini, a social organisation, repaired the cave and murals inside the structure. We repaired a hole that had developed on the roof of the cave due to rainwater seeping in. Also, the murals that depict the struggle of Phadke have been repainted and repaired, said Bandopant Phadke, the president of the Phadke Swarupvardhini.An underground 100 square feet room, where Phadke was locked during court trials, has also been redecorated and cleaned. Just a few steps away from the memorial is the building, where the trial of Phadke and his comrades, involved in an armed struggle to overthrow the colonial government, was held in 1879. The building then housed the district court. It was later handed over to the state CID in 1928.Phadke was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1879 and deported to Aden in Yemen, where he breathed his last in February 1883. The open space under the Metro line had become a parking space. The Metro authorities had even set up their makeshift accommodation on it.Now Metro has laid lawns and installed paver blocks. Abhijit Phadke, the secretary of the organisation, said, It has a decent look now.But we are still worried about the daily maintenance. We do not have funds to allocate staffers to maintain this premises. We need help from the government and social organisations to maintain the place, he added.State higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil, who attended the birth anniversary function at the memorial on Saturday, promised that he would direct the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to include the place in Pune Darshan. People, including visitors and youngsters, will come to know about the extraordinary contributions of Phadke to the country, Patil said. Umranikar pointed out that either a social organisation or a government agency/department needs to come forward to maintain the place. We do not want to see the bad state of the memorial again because of poor maintenance. The sanctity of the place should be maintained like a temple. Then only the future generations will be motivated by the work of Phadke, said Prakash Deshpande, who visited the place on Saturday.Shrikant Dhivare, superintendent of police, Government Railway Police (GRP), told TOI, No special funds have been given by the state government to maintain the memorial. Shravan Hardikar, managing director, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited, said, We have carried out necessary repair works to maintain the sanctity of the place. In 2004, the Lok Sabha secretariat had released a special booklet titled Vasudev Balwant Phadke: A Profile to mark the unveiling of his portrait in Parliament.Vasudev Balwant Phadke was undoubtedly among the first brigade of Indian revolutionaries. His life was a saga of toil, sweat, blood and tears. When even pundits and great political leaders faltered in proclaiming the idea of absolute political Independence, Vasudev Balwant openly proclaimed it. He was the first Indian leader to go from village to village to preach the mantra of swaraj and exhort the people to rebel against foreign rule, the booklet said.

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