Vivekananda Ashram: Building a condo behind a heritage structure to fund schools?

The Save Vivekananda Ashram Brickfields (SVAB) committee has asked the Vivekananda Ashram Board of Trustees to engage with stakeholders and community leaders in Brickfields to raise funds for the ashram.

SVAB chairman G. Gunasegaran told The Malaysian Insider that the trustees should be open to discussing the lack of funds for the management of the Vivekananda Ashram Trust's four schools.

“We are not against [the funding of] Trust Schools or education, but there are certainly better [funding] options than building condominiums at the back of the ashram that will not bring any benefit to the community,” he said.

Gunasegaran said that SVAB was not against development, but was against the building of that condominium complex.

“If they would like to build a multipurpose hall that can benefit students and the community then sure, but it has to be proper development that has benefits.

“If they want to create sustainable income to run the schools, let us sit down talk, discuss, and come up with better solutions. Forget the past, let’s move forward and work this out,” he said.

SVAB member V. G. Nehrman said that condominiums would only add to the congestion in Brickfields and bring no benefit to the community.

“Condominiums may even possibly cause damage to the ashram, because the building would be so big the piling may not be constructed well.

“Ultimately, condominiums contribute nothing to the community. They will be very expensive, too expensive for locals,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider previously reported that about 100 residents and members of various groups turned up on Wednesday at Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields for a candlelight vigil today to protest the trustees’ court action to stop Putrajaya from gazetting the ashram as a heritage site.

Trustee R. Sri Skanda Rajah said the trustees were not asking Putrajaya not to gazette the building as a heritage site. They only wanted to develop the land.

“We are not suing the government, no. We are appealing for the land not be gazetted. Just the land, because we want to use the back portion of it that is not used. We are not asking for the ashram building not to be gazetted,” he had said at the ashram on Wednesday, where the trustees were gathered to attend the annual general meeting. -- by Raymund Wong / The Malaysian Insider