Govt nod to Ghadar memorial in US
Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 14
The restoration of Yugantar Ashram, once the headquarters of the Ghadar Party in San Francisco (US), will start next year.
During the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in Kochi in January 2013, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced to upgrade the Ghadar building into a museum and library with a sculpture to honour the Ghadarites.
After the go-ahead by the Ministry of External Affairs in May this year, decks have been cleared for the work costing around $9 million (about Rs 60 crore), said Inder Singh, executive trustee, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin Foundation.
Dr Raghbir Kaur, general secretary, Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee, Jalandhar, who visited Yugantar Ashram in March, said the announcement was made by Indian Consulate officials at a function in San Francisco. Kaur said the building needed urgent attention.
Harish Puri, former professor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, who has done research in the history of the Ghadar movement, said, “A few documents and pictures are lying there. After renovation, the building will develop into a centre of research. But the museum will require inputs from the local community and Ghadar historians.”
As per the plan, the existing structure will be dismantled and a four-storeyed building resembling the Yugantar Ashram will be built. It will have a research and reference library housing digitised copies of the Ghadar Party archives and newspapers, and a museum. The building will be opened to the public in 2019.
