Did the Ambedkars know of the demolition plan?

Did the Prakash Ambedkar group, which is at loggerheads with the People's Improvement Trust over the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan, not know of it in advance? Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) documents show that a member of this group had received a copy of the notice in June itself and the Trustees had also sent them a copy of the caveat filed in court. Why then did they raise an alarm only after the building was demolished?

The demolished Ambedkar Bhavan at Dadar. File pic

Maharashtra's political circles were taken aback when, on June 26, the iconic Ambedkar Bhavan was demolished. It had been established by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as the headquarters in his struggle against casteism. The Trust, which currently owns the Bhavan, took the decision to demolish it.

mid-day had reported how the BMC's building proposal department had not declared the building dilapidated but the conclusion was drawn following two independent structural audit reports.

The BMC had, on June 1, issued a demolition notice to the Trust under Section 354 of the MMC Act. A copy of this was also sent to the Ambedkar family. Prakash Ambedkar's colleague VS Asvare had signed the notice copy as ‘received', although there is no date. "How can they now claim ignorance?" said an official from the BMC's F/South ward.

"Besides, in the first week of June, we had filed a caveat in the High Court and sent a copy to the family. We had suspected they would try to stay the demolition," said Madhukar Kamble, trustee. According to Kamble, Asvare is an ex-chairman of the Trust and is close to Prakash.

Kamble said the Ambedkars had submitted their own structural audit report on June 24, but it was too late. "The fact that they had submitted a report is proof enough that they knew in advance," Kamble said.