Former mayor K Purushottam on Thursday said he would not allow demolition of the century-old Maharani's New Type Model (NTM) Primary School for the proposed Swami Vivekananda's Memorial by Ramakrishna Ashrama.
In a press conference here, Purushottam said," The NTM School has its own glory, history and significance. Why do the Ashrama authorities want to construct the memorial in front of Ambedkar Bhavan? We have to protect the Kannada school which was dedicated for girls.”
The Karnataka High Court in its recent order directed to hand over the possession of century-old NTM Primary School premises to Ramakrishna Ashrama to develop Vivekananda Memorial.
He took exception to a few pro-Kannada organisations and writers supporting the construction of the memorial after demolishing the school. “Writers and thinkers have been supporting the memorial. It is very unfortunate,” he said.
"The Ramakrishna Ashrama can get 50 acres of land at some other place. But, the authorities are eyeing the piece of land near NTMS. What is the need to construct the memorial after demolishing the school building?" he asked.
The government had allotted the land to the Ashrama to start the Vivekananda Cultural Youth Centre to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda in 2013.