Does city have no place for iconic Gandhi statue?

Witness to several important agitations over the past five decades, including the 1974 Navnirman Movement, the iconic statue of Mahatma Gandhi– currently at Income-Tax Crossroads – will be without an address soon. Fearing that the well-known sculpture would be overshadowed by the huge flyover coming up at the crossroads, concerned Gandhian institutions had got the civic body to agree to relocate it to Dandi Chowk, a stone’s throw away from the Sabarmati Ashram.

And while the design to place the statue of the Father of the Nation at the traffic circle is all ready, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has proposed a bridge over the spot in the current budget, disrupting the relocation plan. Interestingly, the statue made by noted sculptor Kantibhai Patel was installed in 1969 to mark Gandhiji’s birth centenary. And, in the year that marks Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, the statue might lose its spot again.

A Rs 60-crore flyover spanning Gujarat Vidyapith to Popular House building is being constructed over the Income- Tax junction this year, overshadowing the statue. Gandhian institutions including the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation & Memorial Trust (SAPMT), Sabarmati Harijan Ashram trust, Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala Trust, Gujarat Harijan Sevak Sangh, Gujarat Khadi Gramodyog Mandal, Gujarat Vidyapith and Navjivan Trust wrote to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, seeking to shift the statue to Dandi Chowk or Vadaj Crossroads, a more suitable place as it is among the routes that Mahatma had taken during the Dandi March in 1930.

Following AMC’s nod, architect Neelkanth Chhaya designed the new base for the statue. The new design places the statue at the top of a rising mound, arranged in a posture of determined movement that highlights Gandhi’s iconic Dandi March of 1931. Famous quotes by Gandhiji were be carved into the pedestal. The new setup would not have changed the formation of traffic circles at Vadaj. In fact, people would have been able to access the circle easily.

When contacted, Sabarmati Ashram trustee Kartikeya Sarabhai said, “The Gandhi statue was to be relocated from Income- Tax Circle to Vadaj Circle. The design for it is ready, too. We will relocate the statue soon.” However, when informed about AMC’s budget proposal for a bridge over Dandi Chowk, he said, “I am completely unaware of the issue. We will discuss this matter with the concerned officials at AMC and shift the statue only after that.”

City Engineer Hitesh Contractor said, “There is a proposal to build a bridge at Vadaj Circle in this year’s budget. We will have to prepare a feasibility report first. We can only figure out the direction in which to build the bridge after that. I am not aware of the issue with the Gandhi statue. If the concerned parties approach us regarding the issue, we will take it into consideration.”