9 years on, Guru Ravidas memorial still not complete

The construction work of the Shri Guru Ravidas Ji Yadgar Memorial, to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 110 crore at Khuralgarh village in Garhshankar, is far from completion even after nine years.

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The project was inaugurated in 2016 by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the revered site where Guru Ravidas used to meditate. It was to be completed in about a year and three months. Ever since, an amount of Rs 136 crore has been spent on the memorial, but the work is still not finished. The incomplete project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann in February last year.

Even the construction of the 151-foot-tall Minar-e-Begumpura, which took off in the first phase of the project itself, is still not complete. Four more storeys have to be added to the Sarai building. Apart from this, the work to be undertaken by the Tourism and Cultural Department, Punjab, on setting up a museum to depict the life of Guru Ravidas has not even started.

The memorial is coming up on 14.4 acres. The work was allotted with an initial grant of Rs 10 crore to a private company, ASC Builders Pvt Ltd , but the remaining grant for the construction work was not released for long. In 2017, the Congress government was formed in the state, but the grant for the construction work was again not released. The company invested Rs 30 crore on its own, but as the payments got stuck, the company moved court against the government. Then on the court’s instructions, the government released the grant and the construction began with the company investing another Rs 62 crore.

Once again the same problem hit the project and the company wrote to the government that due to the delay and non-release of grants, the price of the material had escalated, hence further construction could not be undertaken. In 2022, as the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power, it issued a grant of Rs 74 crore after which, the work of the installation of the red stone started in the entire building. The installation of marble, granite, railings and grills on the stairs, four lifts, fountains is complete. Even though the work of Minar-e-Begumpura is incomplete, it was inaugurated, annoying many devotees.

Once completed, the building will have a congregation hall to accommodate 10,000 devotees, auditorium with seating capacity of 500 to provide information about the life of Guru Ravidas, a museum equipped with pictures, audio-visuals to show the life of Guru Ravidas, three-level parking for 500 vehicles and a five-storeyed sarai to accommodate 500 devotees.

Amarjit Singh, manager, ASC Builders Private Limited, said, “The construction work and renovation have been complete and the towers have been erected. The company has been given grant for all work done by the government. “Now some work of minar and towers is pending, for which a grant of Rs 7-8 crore is yet to come by. “Most probably, the work will be completed by April 15 and the Tourism Department will be starting its work then,” he said.

SDO of Public Works Department Balinder Kumar said, “The work of minar will be complete in one and a half months. The lower administration block has been converted into the sarai building. The work of the upper sarai building for residence will be done by the government in the next phase. The Tourism and Cultural Department will soon install the photographs, audio-visual and other works to prepare the museum to depict the life of the guru.”