It’s race against time at Sultanpur Lodhi

Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Sultanpur Lodhi, Sept 13

Even as the pace of development works has increased since the recent Cabinet meeting in Sultanpur Lodhi, some projects may end up fighting hard against the deadline.

Despite the mentionable progress, the administration is now racing against time to get all major projects over, including those of setting up a tent city and new sarais, renovating the railway station and the bus stand.

“With deadlines for all works clearly spelt out and Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh set to visit the holy town again on October 10 for a review, we are already on our toes,” said Deputy Commissioner DPS Kharbanda.

As many as 10-20 nagar kirtans are already coming to the town every weekend from far and near. Residents have started complaining about traffic jams. The 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev falls on November 12 but increasing footfall of devotees in the town has already started, especially on weekends. The government officials are expecting the numbers to swell manifold, especially around Dasehra and Diwali holidays next month. Traffic management needs to be spelt out clearly now to avoid last minute congestion, residents said.

Meanwhile, the status of the main projects is as follows:

Tent cities

At least 450 truckloads of equipment required to set up three tent cities has already arrived. The Indore-based company assigned the task has started assembling the tents. PWD XEN Jatinder Kumar said 1,000 truckloads of tenting material was still to arrive. “Hundreds of Swiss-style tents for VIPs are also being set up. There will be separate tenting for medical camps, langars and police help desk. In all, we should be able to accommodate 45,000 devotees in these tents from October 15 onwards,” he said. The setting up of tent cities has become important since most of the sarais (inns) coming up in the periphery of the eight historical gurdwaras here may not get ready by gurpurb, a kar sewak working for the SGPC said.

Bus stand

The platform where buses are to halt is still being constructed. Electrical fittings are yet to be done. Doors, windows and plumbing works too are pending. Meanwhile, the bus stand with AC waiting rooms may get ready in another 20 days or so. “Only minibuses ande-rickshaws will be allowed into the town,” said Congress MLA Navtej Cheema.

Railway station

The second platform, which was earlier used only for the goods train, has been raised to be now used for passenger trains too. A foot overbridge to the second platform has been built while another is yet to be erected. A 100-m-long and 14-m-wide shed too is coming up, besides new toilets, parking lots, connecting roads and railway underbridges in the periphery. The railway station, with dome-shaped arches, is being set up at a cost of Rs 15 crore. There are already 14 trains chugging past this station, but four more trains, including Shatabdi Express, will be coming in a few days.

Mool Mantar Asthan

Another attraction will be the ‘Ek Onkar Mool Mantar Asthan’ which is coming up in the vicinity of Gurdwara Sant Ghat. This is the place where Guru Nanak first recited the ‘Mool Mantar’ after taking a dip in the holy Bein river. A spherical museum with water in a central pool, 13 arches (to go with tera-tera sakhi of Guru Nanak) and four storeys depicting history related to the Guru’s four udasis, is coming up. Two Sikh organisations, UK-based Nishkam Sewa Jatha and Kar Sewa Qila, Anandpur Sahib, in association with the SGPC, are working at the site.

Centre proposes special coin
Amritsar: The Centre has proposed to release a specially crafted coin valuing Rs 550 for Gurpurb. The SGPC has already been offering gold and silver coins dedicated to the occasion. The Centre has approached SGPC seeking its suggestion on the coin design. After introducing amendments, the SGPC has sent back the design draft. SGPC Dharam Parchar Committee head Balinder Singh Jodhasingha said the coin would be launched by the PM or President at Sultanpur Lodhi on Nov 12. TNS

‘No politics on Gurpurb’

• Senior AAP leader and Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema has appealed to all political parties, religious and social organisations not to play cheap politics over 550th Gurpurb and the Kartarpur corridor.
• In a joint statement, Cheema, Jaikrishan Singh Rori and Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal said SAD, SGPC, Centre and state govt were playing politics, to earn political brownie points.
•