KVIC to install steel 'charkha' on Sabarmati riverfront

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has begun the process of installing a "charkha" (spinning wheel) made of stainless steel in front of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said.

The installation on the bank of the Sabarmati river, opposite to the ashram, will mark the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, which will be celebrated in 2019.

Much like the Taj Mahal and the Lal Quila on opposite banks of the Yamuna river at Agra, the "charkha" would be a first-of-its-kind in Gujarat, the native state of Mahatma Gandhi, Saxena said.

The 11-foot-tall, 22-foot-long, 6.5-foot-broad spinning wheel is made of high-quality chromium-nickel stainless and is corrosion resistant, non-magnetic and will not get hardened due to heat, the KVIC said in a press release.

Saxena said after getting the official consent for the installation of the "charkha" from the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation Limited, the KVIC began the piling work of a four-foot-high granite platform near gate number 3 of Subhas Bridge Riverfront Park.

"It would be a proud moment for the KVIC as the nation's global symbol of peace, non-violence and self-reliance would spread its legacy across the world.

"It was the dream and vision of our Prime Minister, Narendra Modiji, to take charkha to the global level and the KVIC has started taking this tool of warp and weft of our social fabric abroad, following our PM's vision," he added.

Over the last three years, the KVIC has installed the world's largest wooden "charkha" at the Delhi airport and a 12 feet by 25 feet steel "charkha" at Rajiv Chowk in the national capital.

During the Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebrations, the KVIC had installed an 18-foot-long, 5.75-foot-wide and nine-foot-high steel "charkha" in front of the Gandhi Museum in Motihari, Bihar.

It had also donated a "charkha" to the Gandhi Heritage Site at Jinja in Uganda on October 2 last year.