‘Dandi highway a heritage site,not tourist spot’

A letter dated August 8 signed by 40 heads of and people associated with Gandhian institutions and organisations,activists and academicians from across the country – spoke of their reservations against the Centre’s proposal.

In the letter,a copy of which was also marked to the Cultural Secretary of the Government of India,it was written that an expressway “would defeat the very spirit in which the Holy March was undertaken.”

“We think of creating a Dandi Heritage site rather than creating a Dandi Highway. The original path needs to be recreated in as original a form as possible. The villages on the route where the marchers had stayed and had held meetings need to be recreated,” the letter said.

The letter was drafted at Gujarat Vidyapeeth in Ahmedabad and was circulated by Sudershan Iyengar,the Vice-Chancellor of the organisation.

Iyengar told Newsline: “The point we are making is that there is a difference between a heritage site and a tourist spot. At a heritage site,preserving history and heritage is important. At a tourist spot,visitors’ comfort is important. The country should never confuse between the two.”

The institutions which represented their view in the letter included the Rajasthan Rajya Gandhi Smarak,Gujarat Lok Samiti,Gandhi Smarak Nidhi at New Delhi and Sabarmati Ashram.

Many other individuals had also signed the letter.

Noted personalities from various walks of life like,Ghanshyam Shah,Kumarpal Desai,Mrinalini Sarabhai,Tridip Suhrud,Vidyut Joshi,Ashok Bhargav and Jagdish Shah had also signed the letter.

The representatives also included,among others,law students,filmmakers,teachers and activists from states like Assam,Bihar,Karnataka,Madhya Pradesh,Mumbai,Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.