Power to the Peshwas

For the Corporation, whose record on conserving the 337 structures on its heritage list is not too great, the corridor plan is impressive. The PMC has also become the first municipal corporation in Maharashtra to release Rs 50 lakh for conservation.

Work has already begun on the 20,000 sq ft Vishrambaug Wada—once the luxurious resthouse of Bajirao Peshwa II. About Rs 25 lakh have already been spent.

Till recently, Vishrambaug Wada was just another neglected house in the crowded commercial street in old Pune. In its current commercial avatar, it houses a post office on its ground floor, a few other offices of the municipal corporation and a small museum of Maratha artefacts put together by noted Maratha historian, Babasaheb Purandare. The PMC is in the process of vacating these offices from the wada.

The Peshwa era is today being recreated with the help of noted architects and local artisans. Vishrambaug Wada was built in 1807 AD at the price of Rs 3.5 lakh. Bajirao II preferred this to the ill-fated Shaniwar Wada—the citadel of the Peshwas. Bajirao II stayed here for eleven years after which he was arrested by the British and detained in Bithur near Kanpur. His wife, Varanasibai, continued to stay here for a while before joining him in Bithur. Soon the British took over Pune.

The conservation will be carried out in three phases. First in the line: the double storeyed mansion where the Peshwa is said to have lived with a battery of 123 servants.

According to PMC’s heritage cell chief Shyam Dhavale, the bricks matching those used in the original wada, are specially being recreated. And so are some of the windows, wooden pillars and motifs.

Red tiles will don the sloping roof, and the courtyard—a typical feature of Maratha architecture—will be retained.

Other significant landmarks for which a sanction of Rs 10 lakh has been made is Nana Wada and Mahatma Phule Market, one of the few Indian markets built by the British.