Declare Cellular Jail as national monument: CPI(M) MP

A CPI(M) member today expressed concern in the Rajya Sabha that the Andaman Cellular Jail, which represented death-defying heroism of the freedom fighters, has not yet been declared a national monument.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, Ritabrata Banerjee said the Cellular Jail in Port Blair has "unfortunately even today" not been declared a national monument and the government seems to have "no records" as far as the jail is concerned.

He said the popular sound and light show there continues to ignore most of the heroes and seems to have ignored historical records and sought a comprehensive portrayal of the realities.

"The Jail and light and sound show is dedicated to one single cell of a particular inmate. Historians belonging to all schools of history and British archive records that no inmates were kept in a single cell for more than a week. They were rotated," Banerjee said.

In his Zero Hour mention, Husain Dalwai (Cong) raised the issue of subsidy for the Haj pilgrims.

He said the Supreme Court had directed phasing out of the subsidy by 2022, but it has been reduced by Rs 200 crore this year which will create problems for the Haj pilgrims.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said a high level committee was looking into the issue and efforts were on to ensure that Haj pilgrims are not burdened much after the subsidy is phased out.

The phasing out of the subsidy started in 2013.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)