New Delhi: New York-based Indian-American hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal has pledged to donate a million dollars to help set up a five million dollar Sikh Center for International Studies at the Rakabganj Gurdwara in New Delhi.
Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference in New York on Wednesday, during which he formally launched the project, Chatwal said he will give the money for the center that is expected to be completed in less than two years. The center will come up on two acres of land owned by the gurdwara, he said.
"This is a good cause," Chatwal said.
The press conference was attended among others by Manjit Singh, president of DSGMC, MS Sirsa, its general secretary and Paramjit Singh Rana, chairman of DSGMC Dharam Prachar Committee.
The center is to be built as part of what organizers described as the Mool Project. Mool variously means origin, essence, root and care in Punjabi. It basically describes who Sikhs are and how they historically and religiously emerged in India.
The project will have a digital library containing original texts from the Guru Granth Sahib and other important historical texts. It will provide research facilities for people wanting to learn about Sikhism and its history. An auditorium will have the latest state-of-the-art seats and screens like in a planetarium. It will use technology like holography and laser to create a near-realistic experience of history for the audience.
