Maharaja’s panorama fails to attract visitors

PK Jaiswar

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

The Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama, located at the historic Ram Bagh Garden, popularly known as the summer palace of legendary Sikh ruler, has failed to attract visitors even after eight years of its establishment.

Thanks to the half-hearted approach of the authorities concerned. Established at a cost of Rs 5 crore, the panorama recreated the life of “Lion of Punjab”. Inaugurated on July 20, 2006, and thrown open to the public on September same year, hardly 100 to 150 tourists visit the panorama daily. This is despite the fact that the city is one of the top most tourist places having a maximum footfall.

“There is nothing to compare the number of tourists visiting the panorama with those visiting the holy city. This is despite the fact that we have fixed nominal charges,” said Raman Kumar, supervisor of the panorama.

“A majority of visitors include schoolchildren, who come in a group,” he added. The Municipal Corporation spends lakhs of rupees on its maintenance, but the authorities have miserably failed to promote panorama, which provides a visual documentation of the life of legendary king.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Panorama is only second of its kind in the country. It was set up by National Council of Science Museums. It was constructed on a sprawling 4.5 acre, which was de-notified from historical Ram Bagh Garden.

The main attraction in the panorama is around 400 feet (12 metre tall and 100 metre long) panoramic painting, depicting six major battles (spread over 40 years), fought by Mahraja Ranjit Singh. This includes victory at Lahore, capture of Kangra, victory at Attock, the fall of Multan, the conquest of Kashmir and the battle of Naushera. The battles depicted in the painting are supplemented by a large circular foreground diorama displaying numerous mannequins of prominent warriors, soldiers, animals, weapons etc. Maharaja’s grand darbar at Lahore has also been recreated in the panorama hall through large three dimensional dioramic presentation.

The eight dioramas in the panorama also depict the birth, childhood and marriage of the legendary king and various treaties, which helped him to spread the Sikh rule to Afghanistan.

“I was told about it by one of my friend’s in the city. The administration should have put up signboards at various tourist destinations besides railway station, bus stand and airport to make aware the tourists about this beautiful museum,” said Sandeep Sharma, a resident of Chandigarh. The government should have promoted it intensively, he added.

Municipal Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said the civic authorities had planned to add the panorama in the list provided to the staff deputed at tourism kiosks being installed by the administration. He said, “The proposal of putting up signboards was also there, but once we clear the advertising policy it will also be done.”