Sidhu writes to PM, seeks Rs 100 cr for Jallianwala Bagh

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 15

With a year left for the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release a special package of Rs 100 crore to revamp infrastructure at the memorial.

The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, which is responsible for the monument’s upkeep, runs under the PM’s chairmanship. In a letter, Sidhu requested the PM to get work started right away to ensure that it was completed before the 100th anniversary, which falls on April 13, 2019.

The minister said, “Let’s rise above party lines. It would be a befitting homage to the martyrs if the PM takes the lead in granting at least Rs 100 crore.”

Sidhu said he was preparing a DPR (detailed project report) to specify what was needed to be done. “If the PM spares time for a meeting with me and CM Capt Amarinder Singh, we can convince him to out this national monument on his priority list. Being the state Tourism Minister, I have already asked for a Rs 10-crore grant for Jallianwala Bagh, but it would not be sufficient. Special programmes should be scheduled to commemorate the centenary,” he added.

Centre on the job: BJP MP

• BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shwait Malik claimed that he had raised the issue (package for Jallianwala Bagh) in Parliament in March 2017. “On the floor of the House, the Union Culture Minister assured a special package,” he added.
• During a visit to the memorial in May last year, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma had, after finding facilities inadequate, directed the Tourism Department to prepare a master plan for the memorial’s development.
• An official said a report to revamp facilities and conserve buildings on the park’s periphery was prepared, but to no avail. The Trust headed by the PM hasn’t convened any meeting since the NDA came to power, he added.