On Sunday 28th August 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Smriti Van memorial, which honours the resilience of citizens during the catastrophic 2001 earthquake in Gujarat’s Kutch region. The memorial, which spans nearly 470 acres, was built to honour the spirit of resilience in the aftermath of the 2001 earthquake, which killed 13,000 people in Bhuj. The names of those who died in the earthquake are inscribed on the memorial. It also has a cutting-edge Smriti Van Earthquake Museum.
The museum displays Gujarat’s topographic features, redeveloping projects, and positive stories following the 2001 earthquake, as well as information about various types of natural calamities and future preparedness for any type of disaster. It also has a block where people can relive the experience of an earthquake using a 5D simulator and another where they can pay tribute to the unfortunate souls.
The Kutch district as seen today is an example of rehabilitation after a natural calamity. As PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the memorial, the Twitter handle Modi Story shared a video in which those who witnessed this rehabilitation shared their memories about Narendra Modi’s dedication to uplifting the earthquake-hit Kutch.
Bharat Shah, a resident of Anjar in Kutch said, “The earthquake hit this area in 2001. The death toll in Anjar alone was 4000. I lost my wife and my daughter Anjali in that earthquake. After the earthquake, Narendra Bhai directly visited Anjar. He looked for me. I met him. He told me that all this is nature’s play. We can’t undo what has happened. There are so many people who are in grief. If you start helping them, your sorrow will automatically go away.”
Bharat Shah further said, “There was a boy living in front of my house. His leg was crushed by a big rock. I showed it to Saheb. He said we will fix this problem. We visited the Tahsildar office and executive office. A helicopter was called on the same evening and the boy was taken to Pune for treatment. Today, that person is alive only because of Narendra Modi.”
Vasan Ahir, the MLA of the Anjar constituency said, “At that time, an ambassador car reached my home. He came to the security room of the house and asked in Gujarati, Vasan Bhai, is your telephone working? I wish to talk to various NGOs across the country. And then, he sat at my house for 8 hours. He talked to the biggest of the NGOs and community support organizations in the country and asked them for helping Kutch at that time when he was neither the chief minister nor any elected member. He is the one who planned the rehabilitation process for the people of Kutch when he was not holding any position.”
An RSS worker from Gujarat, Dilip Deshmukh said, “26th January 2001, the earthquake happened in the morning. On the same day, in the evening hours, he called me and said, Dilip Bhai there is a massive earthquake in Kutch, you must be knowing by now. All of you might be aware of Nasle Wadia – the owner of the Bombay Dying company. When Modiji called him, he said, tell me what can I do? Narendra Bhai said I need biscuits for Gujarat. Wadia asked how many biscuits should I give. Narendra Bhai said ten lakhs. When Wadia asked ten lakhs of what, Narendra Bhai said ten lakh cartons of biscuits I need. It was only after this that Wadia said that he is giving his whole godown. For more than the next six months after that incident, every village in Kutch was getting free biscuits.”
Jeetendra Patel of Vadodara said, “When Narendra Bhai took charge as the chief minister of the state for the first time, the very first challenge he faced was the rehabilitation works of the 2001 earthquake. It was going on at a very low pace. After joining as the chief minister, he took the work as a priority. He held a program in Gandhi Nagar with all the NGOs involved in the rehabilitation works. He spoke in Gujarati. He said, come on everybody, let us convert this calamity into an opportunity. And build a new Gujarat again.”
In this video by Twitter handle Modi Story, Vasan Ahir also informed about the droughts in Kutch and how Narendra Modi quenched the thirst of this dry region. He said, “Our Kutch area had always been a drought-prone area. When Narendra Bhai became the chief minister, he laid down an 800-kilometer-long pipeline to provide us with tap water for drinking and domestic use. Narendra Bhai said that if we want to build this Kutch area, we must declare a tax holiday for the next five years. Accordingly, for the industries that settled in Kutch in the next five years, there was no taxation from the state in those five years.”
Balkrishan Goenka, the chairman of the Welspun Group of Industries said, “When I met him for the first time, he said that you will not be expanding the business in Vapi. Instead, you will go to Kutch. I said the Kutch region is recently hit by an earthquake. It is not even a year to that. There is no water, no road, no electricity. Setting up a big textile plant in such a place. Is it possible? To this, Modi replied, Goenka Ji I am telling you, the land of Kutch has that capacity that you invest a rupee and you will get a dollar from there. Looking at the seriousness and conviction in his voice, I somehow dared to go there. I realized that this is not the voice of a politician. This is coming right from the heart.”
The former additional chief secretary of Gujarat, Rajiv Kumar Gupta said, “The Kutch as you see it today, and the people living in Kutch are seeing it today, no one would have imagined that Kutch will one day become one of the most industrialized districts of the Gujarat state. Today there is not only the industry, but Kutch has also emerged as a hub of food and vegetable not only in Gujarat but in the whole world. There is a fruit called the dragon fruit. When he knew that there can be a higher production of fruit in Kutch, he shaped an altogether separate policy for that and helped the farmers for growing that crop. Today, there is so much dragon fruit production in this area that the farmers earn around 40 to 50 lakh rupees on the produce taken from just an acre of land. No farmer in the country gets this much income.”
Vishwa Hindu Parishad worker Arvind Brahmbhatt said, “We visited Kutch in 1988. At that time he took us to the white desert. In the discussions that took place there, Narendra Bhai told us that this is one of its kind places in the world and we must show this to the world.”
Gujarat’s former minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, “The whole economy of Kutch has changed after the tourism increased. In fact, the Kutch economy has grown ten folds. It brought along transportation, eateries, employment, and all. And I just said once, Saheb we need marketing, he brought Amitabh Bachchan for that. And he said nothing except ‘Yaar, Kuch nahi dekha to kuch nahi dekha’. And it was spread like anything in the world.”
Pankaj Mehta from Rapar in Kutch said, “When Narendra Bhai was assigned with the responsibility of the campaigning committee at the national level, he was holding public meetings in the whole country. On the very second day of the campaign, at around 7 or 7:30 in the morning, I received a phone call on the landline at my home. Narendra Bhai was speaking from the other end. He told me, Pankaj, the Ran Utsav is going on in Kutch. See if the quality of the food being served there is good. I am informed that it is not good. You monitor it and report it to me in one or two days. I thought this man who was holding a big public meeting in Mumbai last night, how can he be worried about the quality of food being served in the Ran Utsav at 7 am the next day?”
Gujarat’s former minister Bhupendra Lakhawala said, “It marked one year to the earthquake in 2002. Saheb told all of us, the ministers, that you are not going home. You will be celebrating this Diwali at Bhuj in Kutch with the people there. And all the ministers, including Narendra Modi, went to each and every village of Kutch and Bhuj during the Diwali period. Everyone visited certain areas. Like I went to Anjar. We saw the things. Everything was demolished. From there onwards we reported to the chief minister about the help required in those areas.”
