People dump garbage in
Jallianwala Bagh
From
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service
AMRITSAR, April 13
— April 13, 1919, the day of Baisakhi festival, a
day of celebration for the start of the wheat harvest and
the birth anniversary of the Khalsa. In Amritsar though
the day was destined to be historic in another more
tragic way and would shake Mahatma Gandhi's faith in
British justice and force the moderate Gandhi to alter
his way of thinking. Hundreds of innocents were massacred
in Jallianwala Bagh by British India troops. The bagh, a
memorial to martyrs, still evokes painful memories. Time
obviously has not healed the wounds.
However, Jallianwala
Bagh, the principal memorial and point pilgrimage for the
citizens of independent India, seems to have been
abandoned by the Government of India. The memorial to
patriots has not been developed in a planned way. So much
so that the Rs 2.50 crore sanctioned by the Union
Ministry of Human Resources Development (Department of
Culture) on March 16, 1998, has been lying unused even a
year later.
The money was sanctioned
for installing a son-et lumiere (light and sound) at
Jallianwala Bagh and expansion and repairs of the
national memorial. The son-et lumiere was proposed by Mr
Maninderjit Singh Bitta the then Indian National Youth
Congress president to Mr Narasimha Rao the then Prime
Minister. Mr Rao even sent a jatha of 300 Youth Congress
leaders to the Andaman and Nicobar islands for an on the
spot survey of the impressive light and sound programme
installed there. A report was later submitted by Mr Bitta
to Mr Rao, who was also Chairman of the Jallianwala Bagh
Memorial Trust.
Mr Rao agreed to earmark
funds for a light and sound programme at the Jallianwala
memorial on the pattern of the Andaman and Nicobar
islands.
It may be mentioned here
that Mr Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of
India, set up the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial
Trust under Parliament and was its first Chairman with
the president of the Indian National Congress and Chief
Minister and Governor of Punjab etc., as its members.
However more recently Ms Sonia Gandhi, president of the
Indian National Congress, became the chairperson of the
trust, breaking the old convention of the Prime Minister
heading the trust.
Upon Rs 2.50 crore not
being spent for more than a year of its sanction, a
visibly upset Mr Bitta said work on national memorials
like Jallianwala Bagh should be done on a priority basis
and one should rise above party lines.
The condition of
Jallianwala Bagh is made clear in a letter of Mr S.K.
Mukherji, Secretary Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial
Trust which reads: "A meeting of the trust held on
March 22, 1999, pointed out that the trust was facing
immense problems in maintaining the sanctity of the
memorial". In his letter addressed to the
Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, Mr
Mukherji further stated, "the neighbours of the
surrounding areas have been throwing garbage and
polluting the memorial complex. It puts a bad impression
on the visitors. To protect the sanctity of the memorial
the members desired that a cleanliness drive may be
launched".
When contacted Mr
Narinderjit Singh, Deputy Commissioner, who is also
chairman of the committee for the Jallianwala Bagh Trust,
said work on the expansion of the trust would be started
immediately after getting approval from the Centre. He
said the memorial would be beautified on a priority
basis.
It may be mentioned here
that architects have already prepared a blue print for
the expansion of the Jallianwala National Memorial.
However, due to delay on the part of the Government of
India to release the sanctioned funds, the plans could
not be implemented so far.
Ironically, even after
one year of the sanction of Rs 2.50 crore Mr Navneet Soni
of Ministry of Human Resource Development has written a
demi official letter to Mr Mukherji, asking whether he
had inserted any advertisement for inviting tenders for
executing the project relating to the light and sound
programme. It has been made clear that it would take some
more time for the expansion programme apart from making
arrangements for permanent light and sound programmes.
Mr Bitta was anguished
to see that the sacred spot was in a state of utter
neglect. He urged Ms Sonia Gandhi, to use her good
offices in getting the sanctioned Rs 2.50 crore released
from the Centre so that Jallianwala Bagh could be given a
facelift. He also urged representatives of various
political parties to rise above party affiliation and
work for making Jallianwala Bagh a centre of pilgrimage.
He also urged the state government to release sufficient
funds for the overall development of Jallianwala Bagh as
part of tercentenary celebrations.
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