Dispute over Vasantdada memorial site in Sangli

SANGLI: A memorial of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil being built here has again landed in controversy, with the heir to the erstwhile Sangli princely estate, Vijaysinhraje Patwardhan, claiming the ownership of the land on which the monument is coming up.
Shree Ganapati Panchayatan Sansthan, a temple trust headed by Patwardhan, has filed a suit in a local civil court, challenging the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad municipal corporation''s decision to give the plot near the old railway station here for the erection of Patil''s memorial.
The disputed land admeasuring 3,300 sq. mt., initially owned by the Sangli princely state, was handed over to the railways for constructing a railway station.
However, the railway station closed down in 1972 after the advent of broad gauge and the railways sold the land to the Sangli municipal corporation.
The temple trust argues that the princely state had given the land for a railway station and that it should be returned to its original owner as it was not being used for the purpose it was allotted. In its interim order, the civil court has said that no third party should be allowed to establish its right over the disputed site.