Work on O.V. Vijayan memorial at Thasrak slack in Kozhikode

The Njattupura at Thasrak, where renovation has been stopped midway. Photo: K.K. Mustafah

The 140 granite pieces in which six renowned sculptors carved the characters of ‘Khasakhinte Ithihasam’ are lying almost abandoned on the backyards of the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) office here.

They were sculpted long back to adorn the archway for the O.V. Vijayan memorial planned in Thasrak, the legendary village that formed the setting for the great Malayalam novelist’s magnum opus.

“We hope the memorial committee formed there by the Cultural Department would soon complete the construction works and place these characters of the novel there to make it a fitting tribute to the writer. The project was delayed for many reasons in the last few years. We hope everything would be okay soon,’’ says T.A. Padmakumar, DTPC secretary.

At Thasrak, it seemed the works have been abandoned halfway. The arch at the entrance, which was designed on the model of the Sanchi Sthupa, is remaining unfinished. The Njattupura, the rustic building for keeping rice seeds and agricultural implements where the novel’s protagonist, Ravi, taught the children, is also in a poor condition as renovation works stopped halfway. 

“It was criminal negligence on the part of the memorial committee and the Cultural Department…. Despite their tall promises including conversion of the Njattupura as a cultural complex with museum, library and auditorium, nothing happened so far except some land acquisition and doing some preliminary works,’’ says P.S. Panicker, an activist.

“Though 14 years have gone since Vijayan’s death, the memorial works are still lagging. The novel was written by Vijayan while staying in this village in the 1960s,’’ he said. Thasrak formed the setting for the novel when he stayed there after his sister was appointed at the single-teacher school there in 1956.

According to sources in the Cultural Department, the earlier plan was to build the memorial at a cost of Rs.2 crore. The State government promised Rs.71 lakh and spent Rs.52.7 lakh for the project. The rest of the project cost should have come from the local area development funds of the local MP and MLA. But the memorial committee had taken no initiative in prompting the people’s representatives to contribute for the purpose.

The committee utilised Rs.3,25,000 from the government fund to purchase the land with the famous pond Arabikulam, described in the novel, and Rs.32,20,000 for buying the land housing the Njattupura.

The department has just appointed a new secretary for the committee and he has been reviewing the entire project. After the review, he would initiate further steps, the sources say.