Develop Deekshabhoomi as per UNESCO standards, says Nitin Raut, seeks peace park

Nagpur's Deekshabhoomi complex is set for modernisation and beautification, but the original stupa's historic architecture and structure must not be damaged in the process. The development should be carried out as per UNESCO World Heritage standards, said former cabinet minister and MLA Nitin Raut.

A meeting was held at the district planning building chaired by the guardian minister. Following the guardian minister's instructions, project architect Sandeep Kamble gave a detailed presentation of the proposed development plan at MLA Nitin Raut's office.

On the occasion, Raut held a lengthy discussion with experts and officials from various fields and offered several important suggestions. He said he has had a deep association with Deekshabhoomi for the past 45 years, and through the Sankalp organisation he got the opportunity to serve there for 39 years. He said Deekshabhoomi is not just a building but a centre of ideological energy for crores of followers around the world.

Raut welcomed the government's development initiative. He said the late renowned architect Shivdan Mala had built Asia's only hollow-core Dhammachakra stupa, and preserving its historic sanctity and identity is the top priority.

Among Raut's suggestions is removing everything from the sanctum that distracts attention and developing that space as a world-class Vipassana centre. He also suggested that, for uniformity inside, the two statues be replaced with a single grand and radiant Buddha statue at the centre, where the relics of Tathagata Gautam Buddha and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar can be viewed. It was also suggested that the area around the base of the stupa be declared a zero-excavation zone.

Besides this, a demand was made to declare the entire area around the Deekshabhoomi stupa a "no concrete zone" and develop a natural and beautiful Buddhist peace park there. A suggestion was made to build a 360-degree panoramic visual corridor so that the stupa is visible grandly and without obstruction from key locations such as Central Bazar Road, South Ambazari, Bajajnagar, North Ambazari and Laxminagar Chowk.

Raut said that to actually complete this project, the Maharashtra state government should immediately consult the central government and work to have the land acquired and transferred for Deekshabhoomi. Without this, the project cannot be considered complete. Kuldeep Ramteke, Pradeep Nagrare, Shailesh Naranware, Ravi Bankar, Prashant Patil, Bandopant Tembhurne and Anil Nagrare were present on the occasion.