Mahatma Mandir is a convention and exhibition centre located at sector 13 C in

Gandhinagar Gandhinagar (, ) is the capital of the state of Gujarat in India. Gandhinagar is located approximately 23 km north of Ahmedabad, on the west central point of the Industrial corridor between Delhi, the political capital of India, and Mu ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is inspired from life and philosophy of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. It is one of the biggest convention centre of India spread over an area of . It was developed by the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciary ...

. Business summits like

Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial investors' summit held by the Government of Gujarat in Gujarat, India. The event is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers; the summit is ad ...

2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 were organised here.

History

The Government of Gujarat wanted to develop Mahatma Mandir as a place of unity and development. Sand was brought in urns by representatives of all 18,066 villages of Gujarat and emptied in the foundation of the Mahatma Mandir. A

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ba ...

was buried under Mahatma Mandir containing history of state in 2010 at the groundbreaking ceremony. It was built by

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

(L&T) and Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited in two phases. The planning and design of the building is environment-friendly. Phase 1 of Mahatma Mandir was constructed in nine months starting from May 2010 to January 2011 at cost of . It includes a convention centre, three large exhibition halls and some small halls having conferencing facility. Phase 2 includes the construction of salt mound memorial, a garden, a suspension bridge, windmills and development of parking space at cost of .

Structures

Convention centre

A convention centre has column free air conditioned halls with capacity to accommodate over 15,000 people at a time. Its theatre style main hall have capacity of 6000 people. Exhibition halls are built over area. It has four seminar halls (three having seating capacity of 500 and one with capacity of 1000), seven high tech conference halls and a meeting room. The Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre by The Leela draws inspiration from the life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Spread across 34 acres, it is one of the biggest state-of-art facility in India, uniquely designed to combine a sense of aesthetics, functionality and flexibility. The 20,000 sq.m. of Convention and Exhibition area has an abundance of natural light and airy spaces and is equipped with energy efficient lighting and waste water management. The Leela Gandhinagar which is expected to be completed by early 2019 will be a 300-room 5 star hotel built inside the complex.

Memorial

A memorial dedicated to

was constructed by Shapoorji Pallonji And Company Limited. A suspension bridge is built in memory of the

Dandi March The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

. A concrete dome structure is constructed representing ''salt mound'' houses a museum, library and research center. A sculpture garden with stone murals depicting the life of Mahatma Gandhi is also developed. A grand

spinning wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...

, ''Charkha'', is installed also.

Central vista

The and road connecting Mahatma Mandir and

Gujarat Legislative Assembly Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member cons ...

building was constructed. It has three lanes on both side with gardens between them. It is a broadest avenue in Gujarat.

Controversies

Total 356 families of slum dwellers were displaced by the project which resulted in controversy. They were later provided new accommodation. Some Gandhians protested against the project arguing that it did not befit philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.

References

{{Commons category

External links

Video of Mahatma MandirAbout Mahatma MandirMahatma Mandir Photos
Convention centres in India Gandhinagar Buildings and structures in Gujarat Memorials to Mahatma Gandhi Buildings and structures in Gandhinagar 2011 establishments in Gujarat Buildings and structures completed in 2013