Tuesday, August 2 2005 10:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Varanasi: The Government may have grandiose plan to mark the 125th birth anniversary of novelist Munshi Premchand but the dilapidated condition of his ancestral house at his native Lamhi village, about 15 km from here, is testimony to monumental neglect.

"The house is abandoned and in dilapidated condition for the past several decades with neither the Central Government nor the State Government ever bothering to take responsibility for its renovation and maintenance," the writer's grandson Prem Kumar Srivastava told PTI here.

"The ongoing cultural programmes to celebrate Munshiji's 125th birth anniversary would be meaningless as long as his ancestral house does not get necessary facelift urgently", he said.

Pointing to the condition of the house on the other side of the road, where the foundation stone for the Premchand memorial was laid by Information and Broacasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Srivastava said his relatives would like the renovation of the house in its original shape as the best way to mark the birthday of the novelist.