Amritsar railway station facelift worries experts

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 19

Residents and heritage experts are sceptical of the Union Government’s move to redevelop the Amritsar railway station through a private company on the lines of the international airport. They feel the heritage character of the station may not remain intact after the makeover.

The holy city is among the four places, including Nagpur, Gwalior and Sabarmati, where railway stations are to be redeveloped.

Prof Balvinder Singh, spatial conservation planner and former head of Sri Guru Ram Dass School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University, said any development work, despite being on the lines of contemporary architecture, must take into account the historic value of the structure.

Heritage lovers are irked with the Railways over the changes being made on the façade of the Victorian-style architecture of the local railway station, which came into being in 1859. As per the guidelines of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the colour, texture, scale and design of heritage buildings should not be changed. The guidelines entail that the originality, traditional material, techniques and craftsmanship of century-old buildings should be maintained.

Mohan Singh, a retired professor, said the local railway station was of historic importance as it was among the first railway stations constructed by the British in Punjab.

Railways officials said the new design for the railway station was introduced in conformity with the Sikh architecture about a decade ago and the architectural designs of the Golden Temple and Khalsa College were taken as role models.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, said his office had not yet received any guidelines regarding the proposed beautification plan of the railway station.