Patrakar Bhawan be Restored to its Owner the IFWJ

Parmanand Pandey, Secretary-General of IFWJ said that Now that the old building of the Patrakar Bhawan of Bhopal has been razed to the ground on the orders of the Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur, the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) demands that the land should be restored to us, its original owner. The Patrakar Bhawan was given to the Patrakar Bhawan Samiti in 1969, which comprised the top leadership of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists. The veterans of the IFWJ like the Late Surya Narayan Sharma, the Late V. T. Joshi, Lajja Shankar Hardeniya, Dhanna Lal Shah, Nitin Mehta and Prem Babu Shrivastava were the pillars and the pioneers of Patrakar Bhawan Samiti. The office of Madhya Pradesh Working Journalists Union affiliated to the IFWJ was also housed in Patrakar Bhawan. There were many rooms on the first floor of the Patrakar Bhawan from where the offices of many of the newspapers were operating. A hall was also made in the Patrakar Bhawan to hold some meetings of the journalists. This land is located at the prime Malviya Nagar of Bhopal in an area of nearly 28 thousand square feet. There was a sprawling lawn on the land allotted to the Patrakar Bhawan. Unfortunately, in the late 1980s, Patrakar Bhawan came into the hands of a person who first became the President of the Madhya Pradesh Working Journalists Union and later grabbed the entire building for commercial use.  The entire profit was being pocketed by him.
This is not the only place, given to the journalists, which is being grossly misused. There is a Press Club in Lucknow, whose story is more tragic and sad than even the Patrakar Bhawan of Malviya Nagar at Bhopal. The U.P. Press Club is situated in the most sought-after address of Lucknow. It is known as the China Bazar Gate for unknown reasons. This is a heritage building, which should be protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. But the apathy, irresponsibility and indifference of the ASI and the Lucknow Development Authority, is disgusting. No journalist worth name visits the Lucknow Press Club.  To make matters worse it is rented on an hourly basis for holding the meetings and press conferences etc. Both sides of the building are being used for running the restaurant. The persons, who have grabbed the U.P. Press Club have got no sense of shame, which is evident from the neglect of this historical place. They have converted into a making money site. It is all the more, unfortunate that a person who had once been at the helm of the IFWJ is collaborating with the people, who are out to destroy this great building of heritage value. But why the state government is keeping silent over the egregious destruction of this great monument is inexplicable?

Coming to the Patrakar Bhawan of Bhopal it is hoped that the Government of Madhya Pradesh will not only restore to land to the IFWJ, its original owner but will also extend all possible help in building  a state-of-art centre for the use of the journalists from where they can work, learn new things and contribute to the building the atmosphere of the good journalism. There is no need to go into the past, now the time has come to look forward for the better.