Gandhi Heritage Sites (GHS) Panel was chaired by Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the then Governor of West Bengal, with eminent Gandhians as Members like Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, Shri B.R. Nanda, Shri. Narain Desai, Shri Ranesh Ray and Shri Ramachandra Guha and Officers of the Government of India.
The major recommendations of the Panel were the setting up of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission with five Zonal Centers, and setting up of a Gandhi Heritage Sites Portal in Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) at Ahmedabad.
The Panel recommended setting up of the Portal at Sabarmati Ashram. All documents related to Gandhiji in India and abroad will be compiled in the Portal which will serve as an Electronic Library of Gandhiji’s life and achievements. The central objective of the Portal is to preserve and perpetuate his invaluable heritage with proper research, in an authentic manner.
The Portal will be regularly updated by the SAPMT to ensure that all relevant details on Gandhiji are incorporated in one site which will be unique in more senses one. It will be interactive and provide a virtual walk–through to an incomparably distinguished leader, whom the Nation and the entire International community looks up to with reverence, admiration and gratitude.
The Mission will be assisted by the existing Zonal Cultural Centers – SZCC Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), NCZCC, Allahabad (U.P), SEZCC Nagpur, EZCC Kolkata and WZCC, Udaipur which will be provided additional officers and a fixed budget outlay. The Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission will be headed by the Chairperson who will be the eminent Gandhian and the Director of the Mission will be an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary.
The Mission will initiate conservation/restoration and preservation of Gandhi Heritage Sites which will be an ongoing exercise.
The Panel has recommended 39 Core Sites which include Porbandar and Rajkot sites of the childhood period, Tilak Ghat, Chennai, Mani Bhavan, Mumbai, Beliaghata, Kolkata, the venue in Madurai where Gandhiji took to the loin-cloth, the prison cell in Yeravda Jail, Pune, and the prison room in Aga Khan Palace (Pune) etc.
“Gandhi Heritage sites” refers to two indivisible yet distinct forms of “heritage” - the tangible heritage in terms of structures and sites on the one hand, and the legacy and of texts and visuals on the other, consisting of published and unpublished documents, non-text photographs and audio-visual footage.
The list of Gandhi Heritage Sites has covered almost every single place visited and associated with Gandhiji from 1869 to 1948, in India, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Mauritius, Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and venues in what now form parts of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The Comprehensive Master List is being published by the Publications Division (I&B Ministry) with support worth 21.55 Lakhs rupees from Ministry of Culture.
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