Chahar Bagh project hangs fire due to encroachments

Charanjit Singh Teja
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 9

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The Central Government has spent around Rs 1.30 crore under the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) on the revival of Chahar Bagh at the historical Ram Bagh without removing encroachments. The project has been hanging fire due to political patronisation to the elite clubs inside the garden.

Even after submitting an agreement to the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) to shift the clubs and remove other encroachments immediately, the MC did not make any effort. Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu supported the clubs recently.

The work to revive the Chahar Bagh, a quadrilateral garden around the Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Ram Bagh (Company Bagh), was initiated in November 2018. Ironically, the government agencies, including Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), HRIDAY, CPWD and MC, started the project without removing the encroachments. The initiative led to wastage of a huge amount of public money.

The stub wall, supposed to be constructed to connect all four watch towers, can’t be completed till the removal of encroachment. The clubs and buildings of other occupants are a hurdle in the work. Moreover, one of the watch towers is inside the enclosure of Service Club. The government agencies haven’t made any effort to shift the clubs and the tennis court but stopped the construction of stub wall, where land is not under their possession.

Now, residents say that it is a wastage of public money.

Advocate Kuljit Singh, a city resident, says, “When the government agencies were aware that the project couldn’t be completed due to encroachments, why did they initiate it. It is a wastage of public funds if they are unable to complete it.”

Though people in the city appreciate the Central Government for the revival of Chahar Bagh, which was the original structure of the Ram Bagh and Britishers had demolished it. They want to see its completion.

Pushpinder Singh, XEN, Central Public Works Department (CPWD), said, “We have completed the task as per the scope of work. Now, it has been stopped due to encroachments.”

Gurmeet Rai, conservation expert and HRIDAY advisor, said, “The state government should relocate the clubs and remove other encroachments. The Centre has sanctioned funds for the project, so the state government should show commitment. Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister, should intervene to save the national monument.”

Rai said the Britishers deliberately ruined the Ram Bagh of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and leased its land to clubs. “The lease term is over but the politicians are not willing to relocate the clubs. It is shameful,” he added.