150th birth anniversary: Gandhi Dham in Phillaur gets decked up just for a day

Located on the banks of Sutlej River near National Highway-I (NH-I), the memorial is a perfect picture of bureaucratic neglect but as a yearly ritual, just before Gandhi Jayanti, the memorial and its surroundings are whitewashed to offer a red carpet welcome to babus and politicians

As the country celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Gandhi Dham in Phillaur, the memorial constructed at the place where a part of ashes was immersed, is lying in a state of neglect.

Gandhi Dham at Phillaur near Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Located on the banks of Sutlej River near National Highway-I (NH-I), the memorial is a perfect picture of bureaucratic neglect but as a yearly ritual, just before Gandhi Jayanti, the memorial and its surroundings are whitewashed to offer a red carpet welcome to babus and politicians.

Honey, a Class-4 employee working with the Phillaur municipal council, said, “The memorial and its surroundings have become a haven for drug addicts. The nomad (Gujjar) community, who are into livestock farming, have encroached upon the green belt around the memorial due to which maintenance becomes difficult.”

Samuel, another worker, said that during the recent flooding in the Sutlej river, the water level had reached the memorial. “We thought that the memorial would be swept away. But fortunately it was saved,” said Samuel.

Narinder Goyal, president of Phillaur nagar council, said lack of bureaucratic and political will was the reason behind the sorry state of the memorial. “We sent repeated representations to the government and sought funds for restoring the memorial. Sadly, neither the administration nor the politicians have issued funds for the memorial. The memorial does not fall in the municipal limit of the town, but still we are carrying out the cleanliness work here,” said Narinder Goyal.

Gurbinder Singh Atwal, president of the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Mission, feels that concerted efforts are being made to eliminate the Gandhian philosophy in the state. “Till the time freedom fighters like Santa Singh Bilga were alive, there used to be huge fair at Gandhi Dham to celebrate the birth anniversary of the father of the nation, but with the passage of time and emergence of terrorism in the state, the memorial and its significance faded,” he added.

Brij Bhushan Goyal, organising secretary of Gandhi Peace Mission, who is visiting San Francisco, said all peace loving people must unite to prevail upon the politicians who divide people in the name of cast and creed. “The 550th Birth celebrations Guru Nank Dev as well as 150th Birth celebrations of Bapu Gandhi must leave a footprint of promise to shed hatred and violence in the society,” said Goyal.