Page 59 - Gujar Mal Modi

The Modi Spinning & Weaving Mills Co. Ltd. was inaugurated by Mr. Pant on June

29, 1949 and on the same day he laid the foundation-stone of the new colony
which was named Govindpuri after his name.

The U.P. Government gave an advance of Rs. 3 million for the construction of the

colony. The refugees were also permitted to have their admitted claims of com-
pensation for property lost because of partition set off against the price of the

houses purchased by them in this colony. In 1949 Mr. Modi established a lantern
factory which was inaugurated by C.B. Gupta, the then Minister for Industries in

U.P. on May 13, 1950. The quality of the lanterns produced in this factory com-
pared very favourably with those imported from Germany. The factory could

produce 5000 lanterns per day.

The same year Mr. Modi was invited to the Fourth Convention of the All India
Manufacturers’ Organisation at Delhi on 26th March, 1949. In his address he de-

clared that political freedom was meaningless if there was no economic free-
dom. Mr. Modi always favoured progressive expansion of industries.

In 1950-51 Modi Girls School was upgraded and named Rukmini Modi Girls’ Col-
lege.

Towards the end of 1951 Mr. Modi had to face a distressing situation. It was the

month of November and he was ahout to leave for Madras to participate in the
meeting of the Export Advisory Committee. Just then his younger brother, Mr.

Kedar Nath Modi broke the news that Delhi Police had framed charges against
the Modis alleging that they had colluded with railway officials and had embez-

zled railway consignments worth several thousands of rupees. The news was
shocking but Mr. Modi advised his brother to have patience, for he had always

believed that truth ultimately prevails.

The real story regarding this allegation was revealed only later. Apparently, there

had been some heated exchange of words between the Claims inspector of the
railways and the Movement Officer of the Modi mills, and the Claims Inspector

had felt insulted and offended. With the help of one of his relatives who was a
senior official in the CID, the Inspector managed to get Mr. Modi involved in an

embezzlement case. The Claims Inspector, on the advice of the CID official, sent

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