By IANS,
Mumbai : The Republican Party of India (RPI) Tuesday threatened to ‘capture’ the Indu Mills land in Dadar if the central government does not take steps to clear it for a proposed memorial to B.R. Ambedkar.
RPI president Ramdas Athawale said the issue has been pending since the past nearly four months without any decision by the central government.
Besides, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directed Textiles Minister Anand Sharma to take a decision on the issue by Jan 31, but nothing has been done so far, Athawale pointed out.
“Unless the authorities take a decision in the matter by March 15, we shall be forced to take out a protest march to the budget session of Maharashtra legislature, and also take control of the mill land premises,” Athawale warned.
The threat comes barely two months after Dalit activists of the Republican Sena led by its chief Anandraj Ambedkar, grandson of B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhist monks, laid siege to the Indu Mills land in Dadar west for 23 days.
The National Textiles Corporation (NTC), which owns the land, had moved the Bombay High Court which had come down heavily on the state government for failing to evict the encroachers.
The Dalit and Buddhist activists gave up their control over the land Dec 31 only after the state government assured it of requesting the central government to allot 12.50 acres of the mill land for the proposed Ambedkar Memorial.
Initially, the central government toyed with allotting four acres, but later agreed in principle to give the entire 12.50 acres land.