Melbourne: A proposal by the Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV) to install a statue of Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi, near Australian city Melbourne’s Dandenong Station has been shot down in a community consultation survey, which closed on June 7, 2018.
“More than 900 people participated in the survey, commissioned by the Dandenong Council with more people saying no to the proposal. The survey information and other matters came up recently before a meeting of the Indian Prescient Task Force led by Gabrielle Williams, MP, Dandenong”, noted a report in South Asia Times (SAT).
SAT editor Neeraj Nanda noted in his report that [w]hen contacted to know about the outcome of the survey, Dandenong Council’s Anya Murray told South Asia Times (SAT) that the information collected in the survey has been submitted to the Indian Prescient Task Force for a decision, and the Council is likely to issue a media statement on the issue in a few weeks in August 2018.
FIAV leader and member of the Indian Prescient Task Force, Vasan Srinivasan, reportedly told SAT, “The Indian Prescient Task Force decided not to have any statue, including that of Mahatma Gandhi in the area.” He added, “I am not willing to take the proposal to another level.”