Bengaluru: In a little over a week, the nation would be observing the first death anniversary of former president and Bharat Ratna awardee Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, but nothing much has been done regarding the proposed memorial at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and his grave continues to be housed under a tin shed.
Dr Anantha Krishnan, advisor to Kalam Foundation, has started an online campaign to attract the attention of government and Military Engineering Services (MES) towards construction of the memorial.
Earlier Dr Kalam’s family had raised the issue after his grave remained neglected for five months after his death. The Government then responded and promised to expedite the process. But in the last seven months all that has been done was to erect a fence around the shed, while the onus for the project was passed from one department to another.
The petition mentioned that the project was first entrusted to Urban Development Ministry, then DRDO and now Military Engineering Services. “Why is it so complicated to build a simple memorial?”
“I share guru-shishya relationship with Dr Kalam. As a journalist I saw him as missile scientist and President of the country. It is evident that he is popular and humble figure in Independent India. It is unfortunate that his mortal remains continue to rest under a tin sheet. It’s a cyclone prone area. What if the tin sheets are flown away? No individual or politician can be abused. This is a silent and clean campaign to wake up the government,” Krishnan said.
Meanwhile the online petition has gone viral and over one lakh have already signed it. Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Deccan Chronicle that soon after Kalam’s death he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting a memorial be built in Rameshwaram to commemorate the values he had exemplified in his life. He said he would raise the issue of memorial for Kalam in the ongoing Parliament session.
