PM Modi unveils masterplan of ₹1200 crore Sabarmati Ashram Memorial project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, March 12, performed "Ashram Bhoomi Vandana" and unveiled the masterplan of the Sabarmati Ashram Memorial Project during his visit to Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Planned with a budget of ₹1,200 crore, the project aims to revitalise Mahatma Gandhi's teachings and philosophy for the present and future generations, a government release said. The project aims to revamp the infrastructure surrounding the Sabarmati Ashram, provide state-of-the-art amenities to visitors, and establish a world-class memorial dedicated to the Father of the Nation.

PM Modi said, "12th March is that historic date when Bapu changed the course of freedom struggle and Dandi March became registered in history in golden words. In independent India, this date is a witness to the beginning of such a historic occasion. On 12th March 2022, the country began Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav from this Ashram."

Under the masterplan, the existing five-acre area of the ashram, which Mahatma Gandhi founded in 1917 on the banks of Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, will be expanded to 55 acres and 36 existing buildings will undergo restoration, as per the release.

The project includes conservation of 20 old buildings, precise restoration of 13 buildings, and redevelopment of three buildings. The masterplan includes new buildings to house administration facilities, visitor facilities like an orientation centre, interactive workshops on 'charkha' spinning, handmade paper, cotton weaving and leatherwork and public utilities.

The buildings will house interactive exhibits and activities to showcase aspects of Mahatma Gandhi's life as well as the ashram's legacy. The masterplan envisages the creation of a library and archives building to preserve, protect and disseminate Mahatma Gandhi's ideas, and create facilities for visiting scholars to use the ashram's library and archives.

The project will also enable the creation of an interpretation centre that can guide visitors with different expectations and in multiple languages, making their experience culturally and intellectually more stimulating and enriching.

The PM also inaugurated the redeveloped Kochrab Ashram, which was the first ashram established by Mahatma Gandhi after coming to India from South Africa in 1915 and is preserved as a memorial and tourist space.