The Pune Municipal Corporation’s standing committee has approved a proposal to create a Pune Accord memorial and install a full-length statue of Dr B R Ambedkar inside the Yerwada Central Jail complex, ahead of the agreement’s centenary 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 proposed memorial is intended to commemorate the agreement signed on 24 September 1932 after discussions involving Mahatma Gandhi, Dr B R Ambedkar and other leaders.
The Pune Accord followed the political crisis that emerged around the British government’s Communal Award in 1932. Gandhi began a fast at Yerwada Jail, and subsequent discussions with Ambedkar and other leaders led to the agreement. The event remains significant in the history of social justice and political representation.
Under the proposal, the memorial precinct would preserve Gandhi Yard and a historic mango tree within the jail complex. The site would also include a museum containing original documents related to the Pune Accord, correspondence, photographs and newspaper records. The proposal calls for the collection and display of archival material connected with the agreement.
The project will require coordination between the Pune civic body, the state government and the prison department because Yerwada Central Jail is under the state government’s jurisdiction. The proposal also seeks the formation of a committee comprising historians, architects and heritage conservation experts to plan the funding, design and permissions required for the memorial.
The proposal sets 24 September 2032 as the target for completing the memorial, the date on which the Pune Accord will mark 100 years. It does not specify a final project cost, an approved architectural plan or a confirmed implementation schedule beyond the proposed centenary deadline.
Planning for a Poona Pact Museum had earlier been proposed in 2007 to mark the agreement’s 75th anniversary. The latest proposal revives that idea while expanding it to include a full-length Ambedkar statue, preservation of parts of the historic jail precinct and a museum-based presentation of the agreement’s documentary record.
The next stages will depend on the proposed coordination between the municipal corporation, the state administration and the prison authorities, as well as decisions on the project’s funding, design and statutory permissions.
