Despite odds, Nek Chand stood rock solid behind his dream

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 12

Almost 18 years after Nek Chand had single-handedly worked on his secret project, all the while searching hills for interesting stones, wood and fossils, the Chandigarh Administration had almost decided to demolish his creations but for the intervention of the then Deputy Commissioner, MG Deva Sahayam, in 1975, who prevailed upon the then Chief Commissioner, TN Chaturvedi.

In 1974, officials of the UT PWD, on a visit to the PWD store (where the Rock Garden stands today), were in for an utter shock to see a totally different world inside. The PWD store had walls made to empty coal tar drums. Nek Chand kept working secretly on his dream for years, but no one came to know about it.

When they discovered his dream project, government officials were shocked as the creation had come up on forest land and it had to be demolished. “As he was working as a road inspector in the PWD, he was issued a show-cause notice and further action was initiated against him. Desperate, he came to my office. After listening to him, I assured him that I would help him and took the Chief Commissioner, TN Chaturvedi, into confidence,” said the former DC.

Ultimately, the decision of the government was reversed. Rather, he was honoured with a citation, plaque and Rs 5,000 at the Republic Day function in January 1976.

A decision was taken to give Nek Chand a salary so that he could concentrate on his work full time. Besides, he was given a workforce of 50 labourers. Nek Chand’s great work received immediate recognition and was inaugurated as the Rock Garden of Chandigarh.

A former Chief Architect, MN Sharma, recalls that when Nek Chand invited him to see his upcoming marvel in 1966, he advised him not to invite anyone and keep on working on it secretly. “After some years. I took up the matter with VN Mathur, who was the Chief Commissioner between 1972 and 1975. Ultimately, the recognition came in 1976,” he said.

However, the recognition did not come easy. He faced a lot of resistance as the top brass in the UT and the PWD were not comfortable with his popularity.

From 1988 onwards, funds dried up. In 1990, a road for the exclusive use of VIPs was to be built right through the middle of the garden. “The project was met with resistance as hundreds of children and demonstrators sat in the way of the official machinery,” remembers Rupan Deol Bajaj ,a former Punjab IAS officer, who was associated with Nek Chand.

A lengthy court battle ensued, eventually resulting in a victory for Nek Chand and giving him the security his Rock Garden needed, but with little or no funding.

Another close associate of Nek Chand, Ram Pal Sharma, a senior Congress leader, who worked as a road inspector with Nek Chand between 1954 and 1962, said his initiative to do something new was always met with resistance. “After he introduced the concept of boating at Sukhna Lake by making a boat from coal tar drums, tied together, a Vigilance inquiry was marked against him and me. All this while, he had started work on his dream project.”