New Delhi, May 10: The 150th anniversary of India’s first War of Independence officially came to an end on Saturday but controversies surrounding it refused to go away.

At the concluding ceremony of the year-long celebrations, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh announced that the Government had approved the construction of a grand memorial in New Delhi to honour freedom fighters of the country. The announcement took many by surprise since this long-pending demand has led to many an acrimonious debate in the National Implementation Committee (NIC), which was formed to organise the functions related to 150th year of 1857 revolt.

Arjun Singh, chairman of NIC, said the memorial would be built near Kashmere Gate in Delhi. But he was immediately contradicted by veteran freedom fighter Sashi Bhushan who has been the main force behind this demand for a memorial. Sashi Bhushan, who is also a member of NIC, said the venue of the memorial had still not been decided and in all probability it cannot be near Kashmere Gate.

“Where do you have space near Kashmere Gate? I have identified a more suitable place near the Karni Singh Shooting range in Tughlaqabad area where you have about 133 acres of unused rocky land. I have already written a letter to the Lt Governor in this regard,” he said.

Sashi Bhushan said Arjun Singh might just have spoken out of turn. “The issue remained unsettled in the last NIC meeting that was held on April 28. How can he simply announce such a decision without taking NIC into confidence?” he asked.

The octogenarian Sashi Bhushan has been demanding the construction of a memorial for a number of years now. The demand gained strength in this 150th year of the 1857 revolt which the Government decided to mark with a series of festivities.

Though much has been made of the celebrations, many planned events were either given a go-by or left for the state governments to organise.

Not surprisingly, only two prominent members of the NIC, the other being Mani Shanker Aiyar, were present at the concluding function on Saturday which was organised by the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.