Gandhi Smarak Bhawan raises concern about liquor store opening near it

The liquor store was auctioned along with 60 others in the first week of March

A small side gate of the Smarak building faces the liquor store. (Express Photo)

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The scheduled opening of a liquor store on April 1 in Sector 16 market here hasn’t gone down well with Gandhi Smarak Bhawan authorities, as the shop is hardly 50 metres from the boundary wall of the Bhawan. Although the Bhawan hasn’t lodged a formal protest, it has raised concern about its (liquor vend) proximity to the centre.

The liquor store was auctioned along with 60 others in the first week of March. A small side gate of the Smarak building faces the liquor store.

Ajay Srivastava, in-charge of Gandhi Smarak Bhawan, says, “Though we are yet to lodge a formal protest with the authorities concerned, no such things like a liquor shop should be opened around a place associated with Mahatma Gandhi. About a decade ago, a similar situation had arisen when setting up of a liquor store was proposed just opposite the Smarak building. We had protested against it then and it was shifted around 100 metres away from the boundary of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.”

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When contacted, Pradhuman Singh, Additional Commissioner, UT Excise and Taxation, says, “I will definitely look into this matter. Indeed, such stores should not be within 100-metre radius of any educational institutes and religious places. I will check what guidelines say about institutes linked to revered personalities.”

Gandhi Smarak Bhawan is spread over 5,000 square yards area in Sector 16 here. It is one of the units of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, a trust which was constituted after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. This Bhawan is among the nine units of the trust. Sarvodaya Bhawan in Jalandhar, Gandhi Ghar in Dera Bassi, Gandhi Ghar in Harse Manesar are others to name but a few.

In the beginning, the trust was named Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (GSN). Then national leaders like Dr Rajendra Prasad, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, C Rajagopalachari, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Jagjivan Ram, among others, were the founder trustees. From 1952 to 1959 the work of the GSN was done from Delhi. Later in 1962-63 separate state bodies were established and registered as State Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.

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