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Gandhi followers protest sale of ‘khadi land’ Monday, April 30, 2001

Ahmedabad: Followers of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat are enraged by the move of a government-run body that promotes "khadi", the hand woven cloth popularized by him, to sell off a chunk of its land.

The Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Trust (KGPT) in Gujarat has decided to sell off 4,350 sq meters of land in the fast developing Ranip area of the city at a throwaway price.

The KGPT has said it is selling the land because it has become "unmanageable". The trust is associated with the famed Sabarmati Ashram, which Gandhi set up in 1917 and from where he gave direction to India's freedom struggle until the early 1930s.

Leading the opposition to the proposed sale is Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) chief trustee Amrut Modi. "We learnt about the sale after reading an advertisement in a newspaper. We oppose the sale of land because it should be used for what it was procured more than 50 years ago - to carry out experiments related to khadi and village industries. It cannot be used to book profit simply because the prices of land have gone up now," Modi told India Abroad News Service.

The land was purchased more than 50 years ago at a token price of Rs.3. But some say the KGPT never put it to use.

The Gandhians, as the followers of the Mahatma are known, see ulterior motives behind the sale. "Why is it not put to use for the purpose it was bought in the first place? Besides, why is it being offered at a price lower than the prevailing market price?" asks the former vice chancellor of Saurashtra University Devavrat Pathak.

The base price quoted for the massive property is a mere Rs.9.5 million even as the current market value of this land could easily be Rs.150 million.

"We are upset to learn of the proposed sale. We are writing a letter to the charity commissioner objecting to the decision," said Modi.

As the land has been lying vacant since the pre-independence days, it does not have any heritage value. Still the SAPMT and the Harijan Ashram Trust have objected to it on the grounds that "whatever purpose the buyer of this property might use it for may be detrimental to the very ideals of Gandhianism and could hamper the sanctity of the ashram".

Incidentally, two years ago, the ashram trustees had raised a similar protest over the sale of the Lal Bungla, a heritage property used by Mahatma Gandhi. The property was nevertheless sold off to a builder who built a multi-storied building in its place.

A newspaper report pointed out some 30 years ago the KGPT had sold off another plot, where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) office stands today. "We had done that to sustain the trust since it was on the brink of winding up," the report quoted Biharilal Shah, a KGPT trustee, as saying.

"This time the sale decision has been taken because we really cannot manage so much property. Constructing a building would mean more expenditure," Shah said.

But he claims the land has "no connection" with the original Satyagraha Ashram. "We bought it at a nominal rate of Rs.3 from a private party, much before independence and it has been lying vacant since then," Shah added.

 

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