So much for parties loving Shivaji

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena, BJP, Congress and NCP have all staked their claim to Chhatrapati Shivaji''s legacy. NCP state president and home minister R R Patil has equated the warrior king with god.
The controversy surrounding two books on Shivaji occupied centrestage in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, with Congress-NCP and Sena-BJP accusing each other of not being loyal enough to the world''s most famous Maratha.
Yet, for the past 22 years, none of these parties have done anything about the crumbling Shivneri fort, Shivaji''s birthplace in Pune district. Plans have been afoot since 1982 to return Shivneri to some of its old glory.
But the only thing that has moved on the subject are files, between state government offices in Mumbai, the Archaeological Survey of India office in Aurangabad and the district collector''s office in Pune.
This tale of neglect of the birthplace of Shivaji has been highlighted in the report of the estimates committee of the state legislature.
Committee chairman Prasad Tanpure pointed out that even budgetary provisions for the project had remained unutilised. Last year, the state government made a special provision of Rs 10 crore, but nothing has changed at Shivneri.
One reason the plans have been held up is that the ASI, which claims jurisdiction over the fort, must give its consent for even minor repairs. In addition, the forest department has been maintaining that no activity can be carried out without its permission.
Members of the estimates committee visited the fort in June ''03 and have held several meetings at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai to uncover what has happened over the past 22 years.
At the fort, commitee members found many historical structures in a dilapidated condition, stones at the main gates had eroded over time and the tiny room in which Shivaji was born was in a bad state.
The panel noted that no progress had been made in the past 22 years towards beautification of the fort. "While one committee was appointed in 1981 for the purpose, another was constituted in 1991. But Shivneri has remained largely neglected."