The Mahatma Gandhi District is home to dozens of Indian restaurants, grocery stores and jewelry stores.

By Raghavendra M

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A bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled by the Indian-American community in Little India, Houston, Texas, on Sunday.

The community had organized the event on August 16, a day after India celebrated its 69th Independence Day. The monument unveiled is a marble edifice that bears a bronze engraving of Gandhi’s face.

Also called as the little India, the Mahatma Gandhi District in Houston is home to dozens of Indian restaurants, grocery stores, jewelry stores and other businesses. It received the name in 2011.

With a climate similar to India’s, the Houston area attracted the immigrants to this place. In 1968, there were about half a dozen Indian families living here. Now it has grown to be a big community. The district has 22 Hindu temples.

“This is a fitting monument,” said Harish Parvathaneni, the Consul General of India, who participated in the monument unveiling ceremony.

The local community raised $25,000 to for the monument. The completed monument arrived in Houston on August 12, four days before its scheduled installation.

Harish Parvathaneni, Virendra Mathur, trustee and co-founder of India House and Vijay Pallod, trustee for the India Culture Center, spoke on the occasion.

Several officials attended the event including U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, and Houston City Council member Mike Laster, and the council members from Sugar Land and Stafford.

(This post was updated on September 02, 2015.)