On 5th October 2015, The Times of India commemorated Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad by summarising his life as “The Last Ruler”. During his ten year rule from 1939 to 1949, he established The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (MSU) as well as the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) and a lot more.
To honour Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad’s memory, his bust was installed in a small public garden in Pratapgunj, a society named after him. This garden though small was an island of greenery and served as a spot for kids to play and senior citizens to relax. On 6th October 2015, this garden was razed down by the Municipal Corporation of Vadodara.
The road connecting Kamatibaug with Nataraj passes between Residential and Institutional (MSU) area was aesthetically laid out with a road-island, where the bust of the first mayor of Baroda is installed, and this small garden dedicated in Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad’s memory.
These two well thought out features made the driving on this road interesting as well as regulated the speed of vehicles automatically, thus making it safe.
With the removal of the garden the road is now straight making it dangerous as vehicles will speed. I am afraid the decades old trees (circled) surrounding the original garden might be chopped off because they are now in the middle of the new straight road that is being built.
Tomorrow the road island might also face similar fate and someone might remove it stating hindrance to traffic. This needs to stop, heritage spots such as these need to be maintained and preserved instead.
This ill thought out step has removed the garden and though the bust of Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad still stands in its original spot it is no longer surrounded by the beautiful garden but is instead left to stand alone by the roadside!
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