PLANS to create a memorial park for India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi that would have encroached on the birthplace of British novelist George Orwell have been shelved, officials said on Thursday (April 18).
Last week, a state minister laid the foundation stone for the proposed Gandhi park on land surrounding Orwell’s birthplace in Motihari town in Bihar state, causing concern among fans of the writer.
“In view of questions raised by several people, the district administration has stopped the construction of the park around the premises of Orwell’s birthplace,” district magistrate Vinay Kumar said.
Kumar said the district administration has instructed local officials to keep away from the site housing a simple white colonial bungalow belonging to Orwell’s family.
Orwell, born as Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903, lived in Motihari for a year as a child before leaving for England in 1904 with his mother and sister.
His father, Richard W Blair, worked for the Indian Civil Service during the time of British rule over the subcontinent.
For years, the family’s bungalow has been left to decay.
It was damaged in an earthquake in 1934 and has since served as an occasional home to stray animals. Recently Orwell’s statue at the site of the house was vandalised.
Deo Priya Mukherjee, who heads an Orwell commemorative committee in the state, said he was delighted with the development.
“We welcome the decision to stop the construction of the park at the birthplace of Orwell. The park in memory of Gandhi should be developed away from the protected site,” Mukherjee said.
“It is an unfortunate that although the place has no connection with Gandhi, some people with vested interests were trying to develop it as a place associated with the freedom fighter,” he added.
Orwell, writer of such novels as Animal Farm and 1984, never returned to his birthplace and died in 1950 after a life that saw him live rough in London and Paris, fight in the Spanish civil war and serve as a wartime broadcaster for the BBC.
