Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has taken-up an interesting project, to protect the 151-year-old chimney of erstwhile Empress Mill, the first company set up by Jamsetji Tata. Empress Mill holds special importance for the Tata Group conglomerate as it is part of chronicles of history. The chimney is in Vande Mataram garden that is being taken up for development on the theme of military exploits, depicting the heroics of Param Vir Chakra winners. The garden is located in Ganeshpeth area in Prabhag no 19, and work relates to strengthening and conserving the over a century-old structure. The chimney conservation programme was conceived by Dayashankar Tiwari, former Mayor, who said he is keen to preserve a piece of history, as the Empress Mill heralded industrial revolution in the country. Empress Mill remains etched in memory of Nagpurians, as for over a century, the chimney was reminiscent of the daily routine that revolved around the siren of the mill.

 

Though the structure of mill no longer remains, yet the chimney somehow survived the urbanisation onslaught. Hence, Tiwari, while talking to The Hitavada, said he thought of taking up conservation of part of Nagpur’s rich past and as Vande Mataram garden is adjacent to it, the two things can gel well together. As part of the work order, the Gandhibagh Zone of NMC is handling the strengthening of the 30 metre tall chimney. Tiwari said that the chimney was constructed as per standards of that time, mixing lime with other material to form the mortar. Now, it is decided to plaster the entire chimney and provide reinforcement to add strength to the structure.

 

The estimated cost of the first part of the Empress Mill chimney conservation project is pegged at Rs 51 lakh. After the strengthening work, the second leg would see starting of aesthetics work to restore the chimney to its erstwhile glory. Thereafter, the Vande Mataram garden will feature a laser show of around 20 minutes duration that would depict the sacrifices and heroism of Param Vir Chakra winners along side the innovation by the scientific community of the country. Explaining the concept of the idea, Tiwari added that the Empress Mill started functioning from 1874 and as it was the only functioning unit of that time, the siren blaring in fact depicted the time, the morning, afternoon and evening. So the chimney might not have heritage value, yet it has piece of historic halo around it and therefore it was decided to make use of the structure in the Vande Mataram garden.

 

He further mentioned that civilians have largely remained aloof from armed forces as well as scientific community so the Vande Mataram garden is going to act as bridge between the general society and two wings of India that have done yeoman service to country. So all the PVC awardees life and heroics post independence along with achievements of scientists are going to feature in the documentary that would be beamed to visitors. Tiwari further told The Hitavada that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the Vande Mataram project which is going to be one of its kind in the country.