'Mata Vidyawati Smarak' at Moranwali in dire straits

Sanjiv Kumar Bakshi

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Hoshiarpur, March 23

While the country is remembering the martyrs — Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev — on their death anniversary, the memorial — Mata Vidyavati Smarak — raised in memory of Bhagat Singh’s mother at her paternal village is in dire straits and needs immediate attention.

Raised in 2009 on an expenditure of Rs4.67 crore, it neither has a caretaker, nor there are any arrangements for cleaning and no one to take care of the multipurpose hall, auditorium and the library block raised there.

The village panchayat tries to manage on its own, but since the memorial is a government property, the panchayat feels helpless in maintaining or taking its full care.

The memorial’s foundation stone was laid by the then Union Minister Ambika Soni in 2009. Later, the then SAD-BJP government had also organised a function there, but after that it was left unattended to. There is no one to take care of the memorial, no staff is appointed there and there are no arrangements of cleaning and sanitation at the memorial. The toilets are in a dilapidated condition, the manhole covers were stolen long ago. What to say of facilities, there are no chairs in the auditorium and multipurpose hall. The statues installed there are losing its sheen and the building has lost its lustre as it has never been whitewashed except once at the time of its construction. The iron grills are missing for long and so are the steel utensils.

Village sarpanch Manjit Ram said the government should appoint a caretaker and the maintenance staff and sweepers to take care of the monument or it should be handed over to the village panchayat, so that the panchayat could manage to get it repaired, cleaned and managed from its own resources.  Nothing has been done. The monument needs immediate repairs, whitewashing and renovation of washrooms, but to no avail.

“We try to manage things at our own level, but we have limits as it’s a government property and we can’t do much as it’s not under  panchayat. We demand that the government should hand it over to the panchayat and give special grant for its maintenance, so that the panchayat may get the needed works done with government grants and with the help of NRIs of the village and the area,” he said.

Meanwhile, RTI activist Parvinder Singh Kitna has written to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Law and Tourism Minister Harjot Singh Bains, secretary, director of the department concerned and Deputy Commissioner urging them to take care of the memorial. He has demanded that the government should immediately deploy personnel for the maintenance and security of the monument, at least one function should be held at the official level. He has also sought from the government to develop this monument and the village as a tourist destination giving special grants for the purpose and that the library be equipped with modern books.