Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, July 19: After a delay of about eight years Port Blair Municipal Council has finally reconstructed and renovated Capt. Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee Park in 2013 at Prem Nagar. This step of PBMC was well appreciated by all and as a mark of respect to the True Hero of Andaman the PBMC has installed a bust of Martyr Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee at the Centre of the park.
But the bust has upset many people in Andaman as the bust carries no resemblance with Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee. Those who knew him and even teachers of Late Capt. Bhattacharjee allege that the bust doesn’t even carry 10% resemblance.
“This is like insulting our Martyr. The PBMC should have taken great care before finalizing the bust. The present bust doesn’t look like Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee at all. Who has finalized the final output? Who has approved it?” questions a teacher of Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee, who doesn’t want his name to be quoted.
It is known to everybody that firms in mainland which make busts always have some ready-made busts, which cost less and also are easily available. Many alleges that one such bust must have been brought by PBMC and perhaps this is the reason why the present bust doesn’t look like the Andaman Martyr.
Andaman Sheekha has the real pictures of Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee and with the real picture readers can easily make out whether the present bust at CAKB look like him.
A senior officials of PBMC has informed Andaman Sheekha that the bust was approved by the council in the year 2002 and was proposed by the then Chairperson, Mr Sher Singh. However, neither Mr. Rao nor anyone else in PBMC could say whether any approval was taken from the family members of Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee before placing the Bust in CAKB Park.
“We demand that the PBMC must immediately replace the Bust and install another Bust, which should look like our real hero. If PBMC has taken up a task then the task must be completed with full responsibility. Nothing should be done just for the sake of doing,” said a school mate of Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee.
In Param Veer Chakra (PVC) Memorial at Marina Park, the designers have placed Bronze Portrait of all the 21 PVC awardees for displayed on the pillars and for the Bronze Portraits, the designers had taken all possible photographs of PVC awardees to create a 3D imprint but it seems that for Late Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee’s bust no such efforts are put.
Hope on the 15th death anniversary of Late Capt. Ashim Kumar Bhattacharjee, the Administration will direct the PBMC to place a proper bust at CAKB Park. (The original article was published in this regard on September 12, 2013)
