Delhi-based architect Ram Sharma designs Sanjay Gandhi memorial

The memorial: Difficult taskThe brick red granite column - the monument dedicated to Sanjay Gandhi on his first death anniversary on June 23 - stands placidly on the green lawns of Shantivana in Delhi, belying the hectic activity that went into its preparation. The project was commenced in utmost secrecy.The architect, Delhi-based Ram Sharma, designed the memorial to blend with a square platform, three parts forming an L-shaped pond and the fourth a grassy plot where Sanjay was cremated. At the centre of this square a 10 feet, 11 and a quarter inch (3.33m) granite column was to be erected, with 'Sanjay Gandhi 1946-1980' in English on one side and in Hindi on the opposite face.Once the colour of the column was decided upon a 12-tonne piece of Keshvana granite was located in the Jhalore quarry in Rajasthan. The managing director of the state owned granite factory in Jodhpur, rang up M.L. Shah the 67-year-old chairman of Shah Granites, Bombay, and asked him to cut and polish the stone. As it turned out later Shah Granites was the only company in India which could have done the job in the stipulated time, because they manufacture stone processing machines besides processing stones. The massive stone reached the Shah Granites' factory in Ambarnath near Bombay on May 4. From the 12 tonnes piece a faultless block of 3.5 tonnes would be used, over eight tonnes being sawn away. Clearly Shah Granites was not prepared for a job of this magnitude.Mammoth Task: "Even the crane in our factory was built to handle only 10 tonnes. We had to reinforce it to handle 12 tonnes," said Aatoke Surie, 32, the bearded general manager of Shah Granites. Other machines had to be modified to facilitate the work, and had they not been manufacturers of stone processing machines, the job could easily have been delayed by weeks. Made from one of the hardest granites in India the column was honed till it acquired a permanent lustre. What the organisers of the memorial had thought would be over in four to five days had taken over a month-and-a-half. N.S. Bhati, the deputy tourism minister of Rajasthan and close friend of Rajiv Gandhi, was the man on the job. He made several trips to the factory in far away Ambarnath during the six weeks the stone was there, even spending a couple of nights on the premises during the last phase of the operation.On June 15 the column was ready but carting posed fresh problems. It took five days to get the 34 of a tonne of packing material ready and 8 hours to actually pack the stone, so that the surface did not get scratched. The shining column was wrapped in corrugated paper and expanded polythene and then packed in a wood-lined steel crate. The package weighed 4.25 tonnes, not enough to be carted safely in a truck. The truck was filled with four tonnes of sand, and the steel crate placed on it before it took off on its journey to Shantivana, Delhi. Accompanied by an armed guard the package reached Delhi on the morning of June 18, after 48 hours on the road.Putting the column in its place was another enormously difficult task. It was placed on a slab of ice, the supports beneath it pulled away and as the ice melted the column settled into place. The entire operation had taken over two months and cost over a lakh.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 18, 2013 12:31 IST--- ENDS ---

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Delhi-based architect Ram Sharma designs Sanjay Gandhi memorial

Delhi-based Ram Sharma designed the memorial to blend with a square platform, three parts forming an L-shaped pond and the fourth a grassy plot where Sanjay was cremated.

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