'Seek BMC panel assent for Savarkar Sadan heritage tag'

The state government’s urban development department (UDD) has asked the petitioner in the Savarkar Sadan public interest litigation (PIL) to seek the BMC heritage committee's assent to preserve the building at Shivaji Park in which Hindu Mahasabha leader and Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar lived.

- Ateeq Shaikh

The petitioner's response is that the BMC had given its nod to the heritage status proposal 16 years ago, and the government is now playing games.

Subsequent to Hindustan Times’ report on May 5 that the building where Savarkar once lived would be demolished and redeveloped, the PIL was filed in the Bombay high court by Pankaj Phadnis, president of the Savarkar-founded Abhinav Bharat. Phadnis is seeking heritage status for Savarkar Sadan, the process of which has been pending with the urban development department since 2011.

On Wednesday, in a letter to the BMC commissioner, the UDD advised the latter to call a meeting of the committee to give an opportunity to Phadnis to present his case, and then take a decision based on merit.