Author: Abraham Thariath, New York
Publication: India Abroad
Date: May 15, 2001
Utah Governor Mike Leavitt was chief
guest at a fundraiser for the construction of a building for the Salt Lake
City-based India Cultural Center.
House of Representatives Member
Jim Matheson, who is a member of the Congressional Caucus on India, Sandy
City Mayor Tom Dolan and K.N. Chari, a vice consul at the Indian Consulate
in San Francisco, California, were the special guests, said Dinesh Patel,
a member of the center's board of trustees.
More than 600 people attended the
event, which raised nearly $110,000 for the cultural center building, Patel
told India Abroad News Service. The fundraiser was held in Sandy, Utah,
and the program included dances, music and dinner.
Leavitt and Matheson congratulated
the Indian Americans for their contributions to Utah's economy and its
cultural diversity, Patel said.
This was the second annual fundraiser
for the center. Patel said the center building was planned to serve the
socio-cultural needs of the state's Indian American community and Indophiles.
The cost of the building is estimated at about $700,000, including a hall
for general meeting and other purposes and rooms for classes in Hindi,
dance, Hindu religion and other subjects. So far $200,000 has been raised,
he said, adding that it may take two to three years to raise the required
money and start the construction as the Indian community in Utah is small
compared to other states.
Patel said the community center
would be built near a proposed temple dedicated to Hindu god Ganesh, for
which a four-acre plot in South Jordan, Utah, has been acquired. The groundbreaking
for the temple is slated for later this year and it would serve the some
500 Hindu families in the region, he said.
