Mumbai: The Mukti Fauj Dawakhana (Salvation Army dispensary) at Madanpura, which is a 100-year-old heritage structure, has found itself in the middle of controversy due to the struggle of two parties to claim credit for its restoration.
The pillar of the heritage structure was damaged heavily in a scuffle that broke out between the activists of Samajwadi Party and All India Majlis-E-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Wednesday evening.
According to civic officials, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had restored the dispensary by spending Rs 2.5 crore. However, just a week after the inauguration, the pillar of the dispensary’s compound wall was damaged in the political activists’ brawl. “We received information that a scuffle had taken place causing damage to the pillar on which a plaque was installed by one of the political parties. We have apprised the Agripada police station officials of the incident. Top BMC officials have been informed about this and we are awaiting their reply,” said an official from the dispensary. The plaque was installed without the civic body’s permission, he said.
A senior civic heritage department official said the pillar was restored via the lime mortar plastering method, a tedious process.
The dispensary incidentally was inaugurated three times in as many days last week. The first inauguration was done by AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan, followed by the Akhil Bhartiya Sena corporator Geeta Gawali and finally by SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi on October 25.
Mukti Fauj Dawak-hana was named after renowned physician and Unani practitioner Hakim Ajmal Khan, one of the founders of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Mr Pathan remained unavailable for the comment, whereas Mr Sha-ikh said, “Some people are unnecessarily trying to politicise the iss-ue. It is up to the BMC to take action if the pillar has been damaged.”
