India's 1st girls school, started by Phules, razed for new memorial

A month after court orders, the Pune Municipal Corporation in the early hours of Tuesday razed the dilapidated structure of Bhide Wada, where social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule started the first school for girls in 1848.

The civic body plans to build a national memorial dedicated to the social reformer couple at the site, officials said.

Local people and traders had refused to vacate the place and moved court.

Bhide Wada is located in Budhwar Peth area of Pune.

The Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court recently cleared the way for the PMC to build the national memorial at the site and ordered shop owners and tenants at the dilapidated structure to vacate the premises.

"The structure, spread over more than 2,700 sq ft, was razed in the early hours of Tuesday. The court had given the tenants and shopkeepers a month's time, which ended on December 2," PMC's additional commissioner Vikas Dhakne said.

"On December 4, they were again issued the notices and at midnight, forceful eviction action was carried out and the structure, which was dilapidated, was razed," he said.

Currently, the site is being cleared, the official said.

"We will be submitting three designs from three different architects to the PMC commissioner. A final decision will be made and the work of the national memorial will start," he said.

A large police force was deployed in the area as the civic body moved to raze the structure. It was completely demolished sometime after midnight.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 1) Sandip Singh Gill said since the PMC did not get possession of the property despite issuing notices to the tenants and shop owners, it had written to the police for security personnel to be deployed during the action.