GADAG: After seven decades, the temple dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in Betageri town, has finally got a roof. Work is likely to be completed on Saturday, Gandhi Jayanti. An idol of Gandhiji was installed by locals at Hosapete Chowk to keep alive the memory of his visit to Gadag in 1944. After Gandhiji’s death in 1948, some freedom fighters met the then deputy commissioner and collected Gandhiji’s ashes, which they placed in the Betageri temple.
Freedom fighters like Sameul Malekar, Hanumansa Bakale, Narayanappa Bagade, Chandsab Bodlekhan, Sankappa Cholin and other residents built a small temple here, but it was roofless.
The idol of Gandhi was at the mercy of wind, dust, heat and rain, and residents had been urging the administration to build a shelter, but it was not happened due to the negligence of officials. To preserve the idol, it was shifted to the Municipal Council premises a few years ago.
It was Deputy Commissioner Sundaresh Babu N who took the initiative and provided funds from the district administration, and Gadag’s Nirmiti Kendra took up construction of the temple.In Betageri, the apostle of peace is worshipped like a god. Schoolchildren and villagers who pass by the temple, stop to offer puja, and women of the area also conduct daily rituals.
Ganesh Singh Byali, a resident of Betageri said, “We all thank our Deputy Commissioner Sundaresh Babu for constructing a new temple for Gandhiji, which was a decades-old demand. This Gandhi Jayanti is special for all of us and we have decided to celebrate it like a community festival.”