The Department of Culture is planning to construct a Nehru heritage centre at the Old District Jail campus in the State Capital. The place has a historical significance as the first Prime Minister of country, the late Jawaharlal Nehru, was imprisoned here for considerable period of time during the freedom struggle.
The State Government had recently transferred a piece of land measuring 1600 square metres to the Department of Culture for setting up an appropriate memorial for Nehru.
The Director culture, Beena Bhatt told The Pioneer that the department plans to set a library in the place as the Jawahar lal Nehru has written some portion of his book 'Discovery of India' here.
She further said that a museum and exhibition centre would also be set up in the old jail campus in the memory of the great leader. The department has sent a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of `8 Crores to the State Government for the purpose.
On Friday, Nehru ward and the portion of the old Jail campus handed over to the department of culture were cleaned and spruced up for the birth anniversary of Jawahar lal Nehru on Saturday.
It is worth mentioning here that Nehru was imprisoned by the British at Dehradun and Almora jails. The first PM of the country was given the tag of prisoner number 95 when he was transported from Central Jail Alipur (Bengal) on May 9, 1934 to the Dehradun jail. At that time he was serving a sentence of Simple Imprisonment (SI) of two years under section 124 of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
From here Nehru was transferred to Central Prison in Naini (Allahabad, UP) on August 11, 1934. The Dehradun jail was again chosen to keep Nehru when on November 18, 1940 he was taken from District Jail Gorakhpur; this time he was serving a Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) of 4 years under section 38(1) (5) DIR.
On February 28, 1941 he was shifted from this place to Central Prison lucknow. Similarly Nehru was also kept in the jail located in hill town of Almora, first in October 28, 1934 for a period of eleven months and second time in June 10, 1945 for only five days.
The prison cell where Nehru was kept in Dehradun jail was preserved as Nehru ward after the Jail was shifted to shifted to outskirts of city in Selaqui. The ward consists of a small sleeping room where the cot, table and chair which Nehru used during his prison life are kept. The department of culture has placed beautiful murals outside the structure.