‘Mismanagement’ mars heritage street of Golden Temple

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 28

For Italy-based differently abled Ranjit Singh, it was a little inconvenient to reach the entrance plaza of the Golden Temple. 

The newly installed steel barricades hindered his movement on wheel chair. He had to face a similar situation at least five times from the parking lot. He had to take the help of his brother Jaswinder Singh, who lifted the chair up on footpath, to cross over the hurdles. 

Ironically, there is a provision which makes the centre verge of barricades lower down to pave a normal way, but in the absence of any attendant on the spot, the facility proved useless. 

Enquiries revealed that it was a remote-controlled process which lowered the barricades. However, even the policemen deputed there had little inkling about how it was to be operated and who, if at all there was anyone, was designated to do it.

However, Ranjit, who belongs to Kapurthala district but migrated to Italy in 1994, had little grudge. “Though it is a bit problematic for people like me to move, I am impressed with the way the passage to Golden Temple has been revamped. The heritage theme introduced here was eye-catching. It is cleaner if I compare it with the situation during my earlier visit five years ago. Had there been some attendants deputed to manage the barriers in emergency situations, it would have been flawless,” he said. 

Another tourist, Rekha Iyer from South Delhi, complained of lack of public urinals or provision of drinking water on this stretch. The older ones were dismantled during the ‘remake’. 

On October 26, CM Parkash Singh Badal had formally dedicated this stretch, christened as ‘Heritage Street’, running from Town Hall building to the Golden Temple Plaza, to people. 

The SGPC sponsored battery operated vehicles meant for the elderly and differently abled, too, cannot be operated now. 

Sanjay Sharma, who runs Sudarshan Dairy since 1959 said. “I require at least 45 to 50 drums a day. Earlier, the milk carriage used to come just to our dairy, but now we bear double the labour 

rate to get these drums carried from the Bharawan Da Dhaba point to my shop. We demand that the barricades be lowered down at least for cycle rehris to pass through,” he said. 

Sahib Singh, who runs 70-year-old Sardarji Di Hatti dealing in ‘papar warian’ and dry fruits, said, “The diktat of making it a no-vehicle zone has brought down our business to half. We lost our regular customers as no vehicle can reach our shop directly,” he said. 

Amritsar Pagri House owner Satinderjit Singh pointed out the menace of stray dogs. “The administration has installed special polythene garbage bins, little realising that dogs could tear them off leaving the garbage scattered,” he said. 

Another resident Jagdish Chander rued the barricades were lowered down only for the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister or other VVIPs as this ‘privilege’ was not for the common man. 

“In my neighbourhood, an elderly woman was down with dengue. We requested policemen to pave way for the ambulance, but they flatly refused to oblige. Ultimately, two persons lifted her up to the ambulance stationed 800 m away. What will they do in case a fire tender has to pass through in case of an emergency as there would be no one to push down these barricades?” he questioned.

Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg said, “The points have been noted down. I will check these things.”