17 yrs on, Chamkaur Sahib theme park to see light of day
BOX: 11 galleries to depict Sikh history
A total of 11 galleries to depict Sikh history using multimedia-based ultramodern technology have been set up in the park. Surjit Patar, a Punjabi writer and poet, has been roped in for script writing for these shows and renowned singers Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sukhwinder, Diljan, Kailash Kher, Jaspinder Narula, Harshdeep Kaur and Durga Rangeela have given their voice for songs and poem recital.
Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service
Ropar, September 12
Seventeen years after the announcement of a theme park project in memory of Guru Gobind Singh’s elder Sahibzadas — Baba Ajit Singh and Baba Jujhar Singh — in the Battle of Chamkaur Sahib, in 2004, CM Capt Amarinder Singh is likely to inaugurate it soon.
During his last tenure, on December 20, 2004, the CM besides declaring Chamkaur Sahib as a subdivision had announced the setting up a national memorial to commemorate the tercentenary of the martyrdom of two Sahibzadas and 40 other Sikhs who had been martyred while fighting Mughals.
The work on the project was halted during the term of the SAD-BJP government. After the Congress came back to power in 2017, work on the theme park commenced again.
Local MLA and Tourism and Culture Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the work on the project was almost done and it is ready to be inaugurated anytime.
A total of 11 galleries to depict Sikh history using multimedia-based ultramodern technology have been set up in the park. Surjit Patar, a Punjabi writer and poet, has been roped in for script writing for these shows and renowned singers Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sukhwinder, Diljan, Kailash Kher, Jaspinder Narula, Harshdeep Kaur and Durga Rangeela have given their voice for songs and poem recital.
In the first gallery, visitors would be given a brief introduction about the life of Sikh Gurus through animated projection. The second and third gallery would portray the incident when Bhai Jaita brought the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur and the life of Guru Gobind Singh after he received the same. In the fourth gallery, visitors would view an animated clip on the Battle of Chamkaur Sahib.
In the fifth gallery, there is a set portraying the journey of Guru Gobind Singh from Chamkaur Sahib towards Macchiwara and the next gallery would have a holographic projection portraying martyrdom of younger Sahibzadas. The incidents during the tenth Sikh Guru’s stay at Machhiwara will been displayed in the seventh gallery, while the eighth gallery has been devoted to Hakim Allah Yaar Khan Jogi, a Muslim poet who wrote poems on Chamkaur Sahib and Sirhind in the form of paying homage to the two tragedies.
In the ninth gallery, episodes on installation of Guru Granth Sahib and Banda Singh Bahadur would be projected. Similarly, in the last two galleries, Banda Singh Bahadur’s journey from Nanded towards Punjab and his battles to set up Sikh empire have been portrayed through murals.
Besides, a musical park, a 10-m stainless steel Khanda and two swords of similar height each, weighing 1 tonne, have been installed. Brass statues of five Sikh warriors riding horses have also been set up at the park, added Channi.
