Potholed Sultanwind road irks villagers
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 27
The approach road to Sultanwind, the biggest village falling under the Amritsar Municipal Corporation limits, is in a bad shape despite the fact that there is high volume of traffic on the stretch, which connects the village with the city. Many villagers commute to the city for work daily while a number of people come to the village from the city for paying obeisance at gurdwaras. The village has a number of historic Sikh shrines.
The state government constructed a gate at the entrance to the Sultanwind area in the memory of its son Lance Naik Gurmit Singh, who was martyred in the Kargil War. However, the government forgot to lay the road ahead. There are huge potholes right in front of Attari Sahib Gurdwara.
Jaspreet Singh, who has a shop along the road said, “The entire road is filled with potholes. A moderate rain is enough to turn these potholes into puddles.” The area is now marred by water seepage which has blocked the village damaging residences and important building of Gurdwara Atari Sahib, where the sixth Sikh Guru is believed to have stayed.
“There has been no development since Sultanwind village was included in the Amritsar Municipal Corporation limits,” averred another resident Hari Om. He said, “The road connecting the village to the city and also with Daburji village on the main GT road (Amritsar-Jalandhar Road) is full of potholes.” Heaps of domestic waste could be seen littered in the main bazaar and drains remained full of filth, he added. He said, “There is neither any dispensary nor any library in the village.” “The Municipal Corporation as well as the state government have completely overlooked this village since it has no godfather,” he rued.
A number of mazars in the village periphery show that a large number of Muslims, who lived there, left for the newly-created Pakistan after the bloodshed during Partition. According to a rough estimate, the village has a population of around 40,000. It has over 25,000 registered voters. Sultanwind came under the jurisdiction of Amritsar Municipal Corporation in 1972.
The village is divided into 12 “patties” (zones). These include Patti Mansoor, Patti Balol, Dadujalla, Bhainiwal, Malka, Sau, Sultan, Pandora and Shaho Ki. The area is under the Amritsar South constituency. Earlier, it was under the Jandiala constituency. Interestingly, immediately after the World War I, the British government constructed permanent (pacca) labyrinthine lanes in the area as a reward for the bravery shown by the villagers during the war. The Chitti Gali was completely marbled. It is in a bad shape now. The four-km long stretch was never repaired. It is marked by large potholes.
As the village is located across the Sultanwind canal, it deprived of development. It is widely believed that the ancestors of the villagers, who were followers of King Prithviraj Chauhan, fought valiantly with Mohammad Ghori before settling down here.
Senior MC officials said there was a proposal for the development of the village, which would be initiated once sufficient funds were released by the government.
