Amritsar’s ‘Sadda Pind’ to showcase state’s culture, tradition

Neeraj Bagga

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 28

The Akali government’s ambitious project heritage village has been named “Sadda Pind” (our village).

Project director Ish Gambhir said the civil work of the village was almost complete and it would take at least three more months to beautify the place in sync with ethnic Punjabi furniture, windows and other paraphernalia. He said the village would be thrown open to the public this Baisakhi.

Situated on the four-laned Amritsar-Attari road, en route the Attari-Wagah border, the heritage village will showcase Punjab’s culture and tradition. It is situated 25 km from where the Retreat Ceremony takes place at Attari village.

The project director said over 30,000 tourists witness the Retreat Ceremony daily after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple. He said efforts would be made to draw these tourists to the village for a meal or even a night stay in the old Punjabi rustic lifestyle. As many as 21 rooms have been built at different locations in the village.

The village will feature houses of potters, weavers, blacksmiths and other artisans who make “parandis”, “juttis”, “phulkaris”, clay toys, musical instruments, durries, agricultural implements and shawls, among other things. Each house will bring alive the life of that particular rural artisan, complete with the interiors, the décor and the tools used for work.

The village will also have the residences of sarpanch and nambardar, baraat ghar (community hall), daak ghar (post office), a dhaba and a grocery store, besides a huge haveli.

The project also aims at rehabilitating and reviving folk art and crafts of Punjab by recruiting local artists.

The then Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr SP Singh, was the brainchild behind the heritage village.

Famous Punjabi writer Giani Gurdit Singh, who is famous for his book “Mera Pind”, had performed the clod breaking ceremony at a space earmarked for the village in the university in 2003. The then education minister had also announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh for the purpose, but this amount was never received.

The project was later revived by the state government in 2010 and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal had laid its foundation stone again in October 2011.