The former chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta, had died in a plane crash in Kutch about 44 years ago.
The memorial of the state’s former chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta, at sea shore in Suthari village of Abadasa taluka in Kutch district, about 100 km west of here, remains utterly neglected. The former chief minister had died in a plane crash in Kutch about 44 years ago.
According to a villager, Prangiven Gor, no chief minister has visited the memorial after Madhavsinh Solanki. "The memorial is in a bad shape. The four-km-long approach road built in the 80s is full of potholes. Hardly any leader visits the memorial. On Mehta's death anniversary, a small function is organised by the schools of Suthari and Kothara villages," Gor laments.
The memories of Mehta's demise have come alive in the wake of the death of Andhra Pradesh's chief minister, YSR Reddy, in a helicopter crash. Mehta was returning from a private function in Mithapur in a Dakota plane on September 19, 1965. He was accompanied by six others - his wife Sarojben, a journalist, pilot and engineer - when his tiny plane was shot down by Pakistani fighter planes located in the adjoining Sindh province. India was at war with Pakistan at that time and it still continues to be a mystery how the CM's plane flew all alone in the danger area without any escort and without informing any agency.
“It was around 4.30 in the evening on September 19, 1965 when we heard a big bang on the outskirts of our village. When we looked up in the sky, we found that a plane had been hit by the enemy's fighters. When we reached the crash site on the sea beach of our village, we found the wreckage of a Dakota plane. Both the chief minister and his wife, as also others, had died in mishap. Mehta's body was so charred that it could be identified only from his shoes,” Jethubha Chavda, a village veteran recalls.
Gor said since Suthari is a famous pilgrimage of Jains, it is visited by devotees in large numbers. But those who visit the memorial, vow not to visit it again because of the poor upkeep of the CM's memorial and the approach road. Recently, a group of pilgrims from Bhavnagar visited the memorial, but they were greatly pained at its condition, more so as Mehta hailed from Bhavnagar.
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