When Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed his ambitious plan of redeveloping Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram into a world class tourist spot at a cost of Rs 1200 crore, his officials reassured the members of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust that none of the heritage buildings would be altered.In fact, the government recently requested Elaben to oversee the restoration and preservation of all the heritage buildings situated on the premises of the Sabarmati Ashram.The government has already started paying displacement compensation of Rs 60 lakh each to the tenants residing in buildings located on the 110 acres. Of the 200 Dalit families who have signed consent letters to vacate their house, so far only 45 persons have accepted the money.There are over 100 families residing in buildings constructed illegally – without securing permission from the municipal corporation – who consider the compensation amount too small compared with the value of their property.After getting the houses vacated by the tenants, the government is sealing and putting a pad lock on them. Though the house is on the land belonging to the five trusts, government has not intimated of its action of having taken possession of the house.Kunal Rathod, 45, has refused to vacate his ancestral house which industrialist Jamnalal Bajaj had bequeathed to his great grandfather Jerambhai Rathod. The Jamna Kutir, as the house where Jamnalal Bajaj and his family lived before moving to Wardha and also after Gandhiji had left the Sabarmati Ashram in 1930, is a heritage building which stands unaltered even today.In fact, Kunal has become a whistle-blower. He has filed a 25-page complaint before the charity commissioner of Gujarat giving details of how Jayesh Ishwarbhai Patel, the son-in-law of former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who is a trustee of two of the five trusts that own the land and buildings in the precincts of the Sabarmati Ashram as also of another trust floated by his father in 1995 from the premises of the Sabarmati Harijan Ashram has amassed wealth by allowing illegal buildings even on heritage sites.Following Kunal’s complaint, Charity commissioner of Gujarat Y M Shukla has ordered an inquiry into the allegation that Jayesh’s father Ishwarbhai Patel had floated Manav Sadhana Trust in 1995 to siphon off funds from the Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust.The complaint has cited audit reports of both Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust and Manav Sadhana Trust in support of the allegation. While the Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust, established in 1926 had a reserve of Rs 57 lakh from 2001 to 2019, the Manav Sadhana Trust, which was established in 1995, had accumulated a reserve of Rs 6.27 crore in 2018.Manav Sadhana Trust not only shares its office with the Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust but the two trusts have three common trustees, one being Jayesh Patel.Jayesh Patel not only inherited the trusteeship of Sabarmati Harijan Ashram from his father Ishwarbhai Patel but is also a trustee of All India Harijan Sevak Sangh and Gujarat Harijan Sevak Sangh which together own the highest chunk of landed property from out of the total 110 acres Gandhiji and his nephew Maganlal Gandhi had bought in 1916 to set up the Satyagraha Ashram.It is on the land belonging to the Sabarmati Harijan Ashram that illegal commercial and residential buildings, many of them multi-storied, have come up in collusion with the trustees.
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