Ranjit Singh’s summer palace in a shambles

People should understand that without an understanding of history, society will remain politically, culturally and socially impoverished. In fact, our heritage is a gift from our ancestors. We should respect it and preserve it. Having said that, this does not hold true for the Dinanagar summer palace of Sher-e-Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh, one of the most powerful kings of the Sikhs.

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Dinanagar is a sleepy hamlet 6 km away from the district headquarters of Gurdaspur. The country’s most-famous diamond, Kohinoor, was housed in this palace. It was in Ranjit Singh’s possession till the British took it away to London from his descendant, Duleep Singh.

The double-storeyed building, an expression of the values and tastes that the Maharaja stood for, is now crumbling. Both the Punjab Government and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have washed their hands off the restoration process. Virasati Manch — a private organisation based in Batala and headed by president Baldev Singh Randhawa and secretary and Gurdaspur DPRO Inderjeet Singh — has now come into action. In a letter, it has urged higher officials “to restore the dignity and pride of the palace”. Virasati Manch says an amount of Rs 1.80 crore was sanctioned by the state government a few years ago but it remained unutilised. And nobody knows where the money has gone.

Earlier, the building used to be surrounded by peacocks and wild boars. Private litchi orchards have now come up in the area where the grandiose kothi of Ranjit Singh was located. Some politicians, a few years ago, tried to renovate the structure to its erstwhile glory. However, once the political class ran up against an insensitive bureaucracy, it abandoned its efforts midway.

Old-timers say the fort, which was established sometime in the early 19th century, has two tunnel-like structures, but does not have a roof. On its part, the state government says it has no money to bring the building back to its glory as most of its finances go into paying the salaries of its employees and pensions. In 2010, the kothi was declared an unsafe structure by the Punjab Government. The same year, the state government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Archives, Archaeology and Museums notified that it was a “protected” monument under the category of Punjab Ancient Sites Historical Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. The aim was to protect the monument and preserve its cultural heritage for future generations. However, beyond this nothing was done. The Virasati Manch has repeatedly asked about the measures taken to ensure protection of the palace after it was declared a protected monument.

Ranjit Singh used to spend his summers here because of the rich green belt replete with a large number of mango and litchi trees. The city has now lost almost all of its old trees, except a few which are left in an old building of the Arya Samaj sect.

ASI officials say they can restore the structure only if it is declared a heritage structure which, in any case, is a long and cumbersome procedure. Things have come to such a pass that officials do come, but only to remove the carcasses of animals.

The fort reminds of a saying that people without the knowledge of their history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots. The fact is that if we are to preserve our culture, we must keep on refurbishing whatever heritage we have. Because, after all, there is beauty in our roots.