Kodagu: Kodagu District Sarvodaya Samiti President T. P. Ramesh said that the State Government has sanctioned Rs. 50 Lakh for the construction of Gandhi Memorial and Kodagu District Sarvodaya Samiti will extend full cooperation for the work to be carried out through the District Administration.
Addressing a press conference in the City, he said that earlier, a delegation of Sarvodaya Samiti met the Chief Minister and sanctioned Rs. 1 Crore for the construction of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial. He said that the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had promised to release Rs. 50 Lakh in the first phase and now the grant has been sanctioned.
“A decade ago, Baladevakrishna, who was the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat had formulated a plan to construct a memorial with the aim of providing a permanent shelter to Gandhiji’s ashes being kept in the treasury of Madikeri and to introduce the tourists to Gandhian history. But the project was stuck due to non-availability of funds,” he noted.
He said that the project has been released and the District Administration should implement the project at the earliest.
“A well-equipped Mahatma Gandhi Memorial will be built on around 30 cents of land at a cost of Rs. 1 Crore. It is an ambitious project of cost. It is our intention that the memorial should have photographs and a library that will introduce Gandhi’s history of Kodagu, the pages of his life, the path of struggle, and so on,” Ramesh said and added that the Gandhi Memorial should be helpful for the younger generation of today to study.
Committee President Ambekal Kushalappa, Secretary S. I. Muneer Ahmed, Joint Secretary K. T. Baby Mathew, Treasurer Kanehitlu Monnappa and Member Liaqat Ali were present at the press meet.
