Laundryman does AMC’s job

By Dipam Bhachech

Maintenance of Vasant-Rajab Memorial

Since 2000, Abdul Karim Wisalpurvala, 63, has been taking care of the memorial round the year, getting the place cleaned daily and
paying for it from his own pocket. City mayor says AMC cannot clean it every day as there are hundreds of memorials in the city

Now, this is called ownership and it comes with taking pride in the history and heritage of our city. A 63-year-old road side laundryman has taken it upon himself to keep the Vasant Rajab memorial in Jamalpur neat and clean 24/7. The memorial, which was in a state of neglect, had turned into an open dump yard and a hangout for nuisance mongers till Abdul Karim Wisalpurvala came into picture in year 2000, the residents tell Mirror.

The Shanti Smarak, as the memorial is named, is a tribute to the supreme sacrifice made by young heroes Vasant and Rajab for communal harmony when riots broke out in 1946. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation which is in charge of the memorial's upkeep says it is impossible to keep it clean every day as there are hundreds of such memorials in the city.

Every year, the Shanti Smarak is cleaned by the municipal corporation on the eve of the anniversary of Vasant-Rajab martyrdom on July 1. However, for 19 years now, it is Wisalpurwala who has been taking care of the memorial round the year, spending Rs 30-40 per week for its upkeep.

Wisalpurwala told Mirror, "From day one, I have been keeping the memorial clean by paying a safai worker from my pocket. We both do the job of cleaning the place together. As anti-social elements come here to create nuisance, I always lock the gate of the memorial after it is cleaned."

He added, "The AMC cleans the memorial only on the eve of July 1 to ready it for Vasant-Rajab Martyrdom Day as VIPs visit the place to garland the statues. For the rest of the year the memorial is forgotten. I look after the memorial for 364 days of the year. Two youngsters, a Hindu and a Muslim, gave up their lives in a bid to stop communal riots. Can I not do this much for them?"

Lamenting the new statues replacing the old one last year Abdul Karim said, "The old memorial had a single sculpture of Vasant and Rajab in the same frame. But now in the new memorial they have been kept separately. So, the message sent out to the two communities is not as effective."

Dr Rizwan Kadri, a historian, said, "The memorial of national heroes should not only be maintained by AMC but also by the residents. The citizens are responsible for garbage being thrown here and they do not care about the national heroes whom even Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel paid tributes to."

Asked why the memorial was not cleaned every day, Mayor Bijal Patel said, "It is hard to clean the memorial daily as there are hundreds of them in Ahmedabad. The AMC does clean memorial now and then and so the allegation is completely wrong."

However, the residents claim that while the memorial and the adjoining space is cleaned by Wisalpurwala every day, the road outside the memorial is always littered. Had he not been cleaning the memorial, even that small space would have turned into a garbage mound, they claim.

Aisha Abdul Rahman, a resident of Vasant Apartment, located opposite the memorial said, "I have been living here for the past 10 years but I have not seen any safai kamdar of AMC coming down to clean the place. Wisalpurwala is the only caretaker of the memorial."

Yasin Nagorvala, another resident of Vasant Apartment, said that AMC workers visit the memorial on June 30 every day to ready it for the commemoration next day. "While the memorial is clean, the road outside is an eyesore with garbage strewn all over. They collect three trucks full of garbage that day because cleaning is not done regularly here. Thanks to Karimbhai, at least the memorial is maintained well."

VASANT AND RAJAB

It was the Rathyatra day in 1946 when two friends, Vasant Rao Hegeste and Rajab Ali, faced a group of rioters who tried to attack a Hindu family in Khand ni Sheri. Vasant Rao, a Brahmin from a Hindu family that migrated from Maharashtra in 1870 to Ahmedabad, and Rajab Ali, a five-time namazi who hailed from Limdi in Surendranagar, faced the rioters together to prevent an attack on a Hindu family. Their martyrdom on July 1, became an inspiration for communal harmony for people in Ahmedabad.