MUMBAI: Almost four months after the demand was first made by a Congress leader, the Maharashtra government on Saturday announced that it will buy a building situated in London, UK where B R Ambedkar had stayed for three years.
The owners of the 2050 sq ft three-storeyed building has put up the property for auction because they cannot afford its maintenance costs.
State Education Minister Vinod Tawde, who is in London for a global education conference, announced through a statement that the government will buy the property for `35 crore. Actually, the owners had set a base price of `40 crore for the mansion.
Tawde visited the building with officials from Buddhist Society of India, which first brought the issue of its auction to the government’s notice. Then, he spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in Davos, Switzerland for World Economic Forum, before announcing the decision. “We will complete the formalities in the next two months and will throw open the building to the people,” the minister said.
Former Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme Minister Nitin Raut was the first to demand that the building be bought by the state.
Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar too had requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to look into the matter.
Meanwhile, Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash welcomed the decision. “I would like to thank the CM for this,” he said.