Authorities clueless on OV Vijayan memorial

PALAKKAD: Both the District Administration and Municipality here have no idea about the disappearance of the memorial of writer O. V. Vijayan which was installed at the KSRTC Junction in 2010 by a private agency as a part of the beautification of the town, an RTI reply has revealed. The RTI query was filed by Youth Congress leader Boban Muttumanatha with the Collector and Municipality. 

No order was given in 2012-13 during Link Road construction works to remove the memorial that was designed by Artist K.A. Manoj. Both the district administration and the civic body have failed to give any reply about the disappearance of the memorial from the heart of the town and have shown reluctance to mention the names of the concerned officials of the PWD who were in-charge of the Link Road works.

“As the Collector and the civic body drew a blank over the issue, I talked to the workers associated with the road works and learned that there was opposition in removing the memorial. A few days after the disagreement, when the workers came in to work in the morning, the memorial had been removed,” Boban said. Meanwhile, writer and sister of O.V. Vijayan, O.V. Usha has expressed concern over the matter. She said that as Vijayan was so closely associated with his native Palakkad, the authorities need to conduct an inquiry into the matter.