Arriving in Dehradun on his three-day visit to the State of Uttarakhand on Tuesday, the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the renovated building of the 'Rashtrapati Ashiana’ here.The President also laid the foundation stone for the innovation technology demonstration project here which entails the proposed construction of 12 dwelling units in the President's bodyguards compound.
Officials state that Mukherjee’s arrival here is the first visit to be made by a President since the then President KR Narayanan stayed here during March 1998 about 18 years ago. The colonial area relic which was built originally as the bungalow of the commandant of the President’s bodyguard in 1920 had earlier suffered from disuse before being renovated and re-designated as ‘Rashtrapati Ashiana’ during 1975-76 to provide a “suitable summer retreat” for the then President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as an alternative to Shimla.
Earlier in the day, the president was welcomed on his arrival at the Dehradun airport by the Governor Krishan Kant Paul, Chief Minister Harish Rawat, Chief Secretary Shatrughna Singh, Director General of Police MA Ganapathy, District Magistrate Ravinath Raman and Dehradun’s Senior Superintendent of Police Dr Sadanand Date. From the airport, the President was flown by helicopter to the GTC helipad where he was welcomed by the Governor, Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli, Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani, Additional Director General of Police Anil Raturi and the Principal Secretary, Home, Umakant Panwar. From the GTC helipad the President arrived at the President’s bodyguards estate where he inaugurated the renovated Rashtrapati Ashiana building. He also planted a sapling of the Rudraksha tree here to mark the occasion in the presence of governor KK Paul, Haridwar MP and former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi, senior officials and invited guests. The president will be staying at the Rashtrapati Ashiana in Dehradun during his three-day visit to the state from September 27 to 29, State officials. later in the evening, the governor hosted a dinner in his welcome at the Raj Bhawan.
located along Rajpur Road not far from the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), the Rashtrapati Ashiana comprises of the main building, annex, swimming pool, upper and lower stables and lines with associated roads and pathways. The Rashtrapati Ashiana building is surrounded by plantation of litchi and mango trees.
According to information provided by officials, the President’s bodyguard had firstset its summer camp here in Dehradun during 1838 for summering of the horses and remounts. Subsequently, after suffering the effects of disuse before being renovated during 1975-76, the Rashtrapati Ashiana has been renovated once again now according to the advice of the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) Roorkee which had conducted a survey of this site during May, 2015. Considering the observations of its officials, the CBRI had suggested measures like retrofitting and incorporation of other measures to strengthen the seismic safety aspect of this structure. Based on the suggestions from CBRI, retrofitting was executed by providing horizontal and vertical seismic bands along with fixing of wire mesh on the surface of the masonry before the re-plastering. The Rashtrapati Ashiana has also undergone landscaping with new lawns being sown, plantation of hedges, ornamental plants, flowering trees and shrubs to enhance the aesthetics along with the wealth of flora. The old irrigation system of canals has also been revived here.
