Mohan to Mahatma park: What Sabarmati Ashram revamp master plan has in store
All these, including a "dense buffer zone", form part of the green landscape that was the latest addition to the masterplan of the Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project, say sources.
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Redeveloped Kochrab Ashram that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Ahmedabad. Nirmal HarindranA ‘Mohan to Mahatma Park’, an arboretum that will have trees from “all states and Union Territories”, a herbal garden shaped in the famous pose of Gandhi walking with his staff , a meditation hall, and a ‘dhyan kendra’: these have been proposed as part of the redeveloped and restored Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct, the master plan of which was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday.
All these, including a “dense buffer zone”, form part of the green landscape that was the latest addition to the masterplan of the Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project, say sources.
The precinct, which already has 3,700 trees and shrubs according to a census conducted in the Ashram, will add “3,000 more trees” to create this landscape as per the new master plan. The work for creating this ‘forest’, which was also mentioned by PM Modi in his speech Tuesday, has already been awarded to Hyderabad’s Heartfulness Institute that runs the Kanha Shanti Vanam. “Trees that were Gandhi’s favourite, besides exotic ones like Rudraksh, are proposed to be planted in these spaces,” a source in the know said.
“The landscape design has been developed by Heartfulness Institute and it has already been approved,” I. K. Patel, Officer on Special Duty at the Gandhi Ashram Memorial & Precinct Development project and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) deputy municipal commissioner, told The Indian Express Tuesday.
As part of the landscape, a ‘rainforest’ with 323 indigenous and native plants has been planned along a ‘lotus pond’ — a rainwater harvested lake — to create a “biodiversity zone”, reveals the master plan. Currently, the public can view the master plan as part of an exhibition at the Sabarmati Ashram.
The proposed masterplan
The other aspects of the proposed landscape “based on Gandhi’s philosophy and values” include an avenue plantation of pathways, a nursery for plants and selling kiosks and a tree conservation and nature interpretation centre.
The Union Ministry of Culture, which is helming the Gandhi Ashram redevelopment project, has recently announced a Global Spirituality Mahotsav to be organised at the meditation centre of the Kanha Shanti Vanam from March 14-17. The Heartfulness Institute, which claims the “largest meditation centre in the world”, has also planned a meditation centre at the revamped Ashram that will be part of the Mohan to Mahatma Yatra garden proposed to come up alongside the Sabarmati riverfront in the new project.
SAPMT land untouched
According to the masterplan unveiled, for the 55 acres of the proposed memorial, the Mahatma Gandhi Sabarmati Ashram Memorial Trust (MGSAMT) has procured 48.79 acres from four trusts that owned parts of the 120 acres of the original Satyagraha Ashram, besides land owned by the state government and AMC. While the 6.45 acres owned by Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT), which has the Hriday Kunj and is the only part open to public, remains untouched, the largest share of land — 21.15 acres — has been procured from Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust, followed by 14 acres of AMC/Gujarat government, the Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala Trust that owns 7.28 acres, 6.05 acres of the Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Samiti, and 0.45 acres of the Gujarat Khadi Gramodhyog Mandal. “Thus the autonomy of the SAPMT has been kept intact,” a member of the trust told The Indian Express.
Materials proposed to be used for the revamp on display
Infrastructure
Four alternate routes that will cover 9.85 kms, to access the Ashram road, which will be closed once the project takes off, have been planned as part of the revamp. An 18-metre-long alternate road has been completed. A water supply network of 30.99 kms, drainage network of 7.88 kms, and stormwater network of 11.35 kms are also in the works.
SAPMT secretary Amrut Modi at the Ashram Bhoomi Vandana event in Ahmedabad Tuesday; (right) the Gaushala undergoing renovation at Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati.
Relocation of Ashramwasis
The master plan also mentions that the 310 resident families of Ashram precinct, who call themselves ashramwasis and lived there as tenants of the trusts, were compensated or provided new accommodation within the designated area of the precinct. “Almost two-third of the project cost has been directed towards the rehabilitation and relocation of the Ashramwasis,” the masterplan document on display reveals.
Of the Rs 1200 crore, Rs 375 crore has been spent on compensation for the relocation of ashramwasis, while Rs 550 crore will be spent on restoration of the Ashram and Rs 275 crore for development of the surrounding areas.
At the Ashram Bhoomi Vandana event, a 90-year-old Amrut Modi, the secretary of SAPMT, was among the 200-odd ashramwasis present Tuesday. Amrut Modi relocated to his hometown in Godhra to be with his son after taking compensation, he told The Indian Express.
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