Sabarmati Ashram has been damaged

While the process of renovation has begun, it is clearly going to be an uphill task to repair and keep the Ashram in good shape.Amrut Modi, secretary of Sabarmati Ashram Preservation Trust agrees.

‘‘There are fine cracks but fortunately, but the building hasn’t collapsed. One could say it is a miracle that none of the old walls fell down. The building is more than 60 years old.’’

However, the adjoining Vinobha Kutir where Vinobha Bhave lived, right across from the Mahatma’s room seems to have borne the brunt of the tremor. Dark cracks, like ugly scars, mar the facade of Vinobha’s Kutir.

The hurried white-washing of the place was not doing any good at hiding the footprints of the nightmarish earthquake.

Even the boundary walls of the Ashram, built much later when the Ashram was turned into Gandhi Smarak, have been damaged badly. Some of the other quarters in the premises have also developed serious cracks. At one time, about five years before he brought freedom to the country, there were as many as 250 people living with him in the Ashram. According to the Trust office, renovation work will be taken up for mending the cracks as soon as an assessment of the damage is done.