Kerala Bhawan
Considering Samajam’s commendable activities during the barely four years of
existence since 1999, Government of Punjab allotted a piece of land
measuring 1000 square yards at Sector 65 (Phase XI), Mohali (SAS
Nagar), adjacent to
International C
ricket Stadium, Mohali in the year 2003. For a socio-cultural
organisation that was still in its infancy, allotment of such a
large piece of land in a prominent area by a Government agency at subsidized
rate has been one
of the extraordinarily celebrated event. Samajam could take
possession of the land immediately after the allotment and constructed
boundary wall towards first step to set up Kerala Bhawan - a cultural centre and a hub
of pride and a long cherished dream of Keralites living in Mohali,
Chandigarh and Panchkula, aiming furtherance of its commitment towards the
society. A land dedication ceremony was also organized on 18
January 2004 involving the public.
Following the Bhoomi Pooja on 29th November 2005, foundation stone
of the proposed Kerala Bhawan w
as laid by Mr. TKA Nair, IAS, the then Principal
Secretary to Prime Minister on December 11, 2005. Other
dignitaries present during the occasion were Mr. Raghunath Sahay Puri,
the then Minister for Urban Development & Housing, Govt. of Punjab; Mr. Bir Devinder
Singh, then MLA, Kharar Constituency; Mr. K. Koshy, then DGP (Vigilance) Haryana, Dr.
John V. George, then ADGP (Law & Order), Haryana and Mrs. Lakhwinder Kaur Garcha,
then OSD to Chief Minister of Punjab and other great personalities like Shri.
PV Sudhakaran, Chairman, Land & Building, Shri. A.J. Philip, then Chief Editor, The Tribune, Shri.
Charles Samuel, Chairman, Mount Carmel School, Chandigarh.
Financial assistance of Rs.6 lakhs for setting up of Kerala Bhawan was
released on April 4, 2006, by the then MLA, Kharar Constituency Sardar Bir Devinder
Singh, on behalf of Mr. Surinder Singla, then Finance Minister, Government
of Punjab and Mr. Raghunath Sahay Puri, then Minister for
Urban Development & Housing, Government of Punjab, who announced the
same during the Foundation Stone laying ceremony.
Construction of the building was taken up immediately after this and many
other activities towards realization of funds for continuing construction
were also started parallely. With the rigorous and committed initiatives
by the then Managing Committee members, the construction of Phase I was
completed in time and the building was made inhabitable.
Kerala Bhawan was inaugurated on September 23, 2
012 by Shri. Pawan Kumar
Bansal, the then Hon’ble Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources,
as Chief Guest and
Sardar Balbir Singh Sidhu, then MLA, Mohali as Special Guest, and thrown
open to public. The present setup is a hall and stage with elevated
balcony for accommodating about 500 persons for holding public functions.
It
also has an office and exhaustive Library with the literary works in both
Malayalam and English. The Library has books from art, literature,
culture and civilization other than the books on current affairs.
Phase II:
Samajam plans to construct the 2nd phase of Kerala Bhawan with
integrated facilities having one big Conference hall and rooms for various
cultural and literary activities like Music and Dance classes.
Construction activities of the Phase II shall be started in the near future.