Atualização do abaixo-assinadoLet us save Dr Homi Bhabha's Home!9 Jul 2014Hindustan Times (Mumbai)
PRASHANT WORLIKARMumbai, Índia
10 de jul. de 2014 — MUMBAI: Dr Homi Bhabha’s Malabar Hill bungalow, Mehrangir, which was auctioned for Rs372 crore, may soon be acquired by the central government to be preserved as a historical monument. The counsel for the central government, RB Desai, on Tuesday, informed the Bombay HC that the Centre was exploring legal steps to preserve the nuclear physicist’s home. Desai told the division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice MS Sonak that they were likely to invoke provisions of the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites Act, 1960, which empowers authorities to acquire and preserve structures of historical importance. The state, too, plans to declare Mehrangir as a heritage structure, with additional government pleader Geeta Shastri telling the HC that it was contemplating including the building on its heritage listDesai sought time to file a reply to a public interest litigation on the issue (PIL) by Prashant Worlikar, president of the Atomic Energy Workers and Staff Union, and Raam Dhuri, president of National Forum for Aided Institutions, saying he was waiting for instructions from the PMO. The labour union leaders had approached the HC, even before the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) had auctioned it, seeking a direction to the state to preserve the bungalow as a heritage structure. However, now, the purchasers have also joined the battle, with their counsel, Aspi Chinoy, telling the court that they wish to reside in the bungalow and have no intention of demolishing it in the f uture. “At most, we may refurbish it internally,” said the senior advocate. Worlikar and Dhuri’s petition states that Bhabha had purchased the bungalow in 1937 and after his death, his brother Jamshed became the owner of the property. Jamshed had propounded a will bequeathing the property to the NCPA, to be utilised for the advancement of culture and performing arts. It further states that the bungalow, situated near the Hanging Garden and Kamala Nehru Park, with its 13,953 sq ft built up area, spacious halls, wide corridors and high ceilings can easily be converted into a museum-cum-exhibition centre
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