Heritage development & augmentation scheme fails to serve purpose

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, July 17

After restoration of several British-era monuments under the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), the government doesn’t seem to have any policy to keep these monuments open for tourists.

The government had renovated several buildings, including Ram Bagh Deori, Chali Khoo, Old Deputy Commissioner’s Office, UBDC, Gol Bagh and Ram Bagh Gate, Panorama, and old gates of the walled city. The work on most of these sites was completed in 2019.

The government spent funds worth crores on various projects and renovation under the yojana but these are again in pathetic condition and lying closed. Moreover, LEDs installed to publicise these projects among tourists are also lying non-functional for the last three years.

An officer of the Municipal Corporation (MC), who was deployed on these projects, claimed that there was no provision of funds for the maintenance of LEDs so the screens were lying defunct. Similarly, being the custodian of these buildings, the MC doesn’t have any provision in the Municipal Act to look after historic monuments.

After spending crores of rupees on the renovation of monuments, only the DC office building is opened to people.

The Central Government had issued funds for operationalisation of these buildings to boost tourism. Ironically, after spending huge amounts, the heritage buildings remain abandoned. The walls and interior of Ram Bagh Deori are getting peeled. Vendors, who were removed from the site, are back again. Similarly, the decorative martial is being stolen from the Chali Khoo area.

Kuljeet Singh, president, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Virast Manch, said: “The MC should handover these renovated buildings to the concerned departments such as the Tourism Department or Heritage Board so they make required arrangements to open the buildings. If the buildings remain locked for the next few years these would turn into ruins soon.”

The HRIDAY scheme was launched in January 2015 to bring urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation together. It was completed in 2019 but after the conservation of buildings, the government has done nothing to ensure these buildings are opened to the public.