The Pune Municipal Corporation’s standing committee has approved a proposal to develop a Pune Accord memorial and install a full-length statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar within the Yerwada Central Jail complex, ahead of the centenary of the historic agreement in 2032.
The proposal was submitted by Nationalist Congress Party corporator Suhas Tingre. Standing committee chairman Shrinath Bhimale said the committee had approved it. The stated objective is to complete the memorial before 24 September 2032, the 100th anniversary of the Pune Accord.
The Pune Accord was signed on 24 September 1932 after discussions involving Mahatma Gandhi, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and other leaders. The agreement followed the political developments surrounding the British government’s Communal Award and Gandhi’s fast at Yerwada Jail. The event holds an important place in India’s social justice and political history.
The proposal calls for the preservation of the jail’s Gandhi Yard and a historic mango tree. These elements would form part of a wider heritage site within the prison complex. The plan also includes a museum containing original documents, correspondence, photographs and newspaper records associated with the Pune Accord.
The proposed memorial would therefore combine a public monument with a documentary and heritage component. The proposal specifically seeks the installation of a full-length statue of Dr Ambedkar and the systematic collection of archival material related to the agreement. The supplied report does not specify the statue’s design, the proposed museum area, visitor capacity or the estimated project cost.
The proposal also refers to earlier plans made in 2007 to establish a Poona Accord Museum on the occasion of the agreement’s 75th anniversary. It says the project should be implemented through coordination between the municipal corporation, the state government and the prison department because Yerwada Central Jail is under the state government’s administration.
To take the project forward, the proposal calls for a committee comprising history researchers, architects and heritage conservation experts. That committee would be expected to plan the funding, design and permissions required for the memorial. The proposal does not state whether this expert committee has already been constituted or identify a confirmed funding allocation.
The approval places the project within a complex administrative setting. The municipal corporation has approved the proposal, while the site itself is controlled by the state government and prison authorities. Any construction, conservation or public-access arrangements would consequently require coordination among these institutions, in addition to decisions on heritage treatment and security within the jail premises.
The immediate next steps identified in the proposal are the preparation of a plan for funding, design and permissions, the formation of the expert committee and coordination with the state government and prison department. The stated deadline is completion before 24 September 2032.
