British-era Fazilka building in shambles

Praful Chander Nagpal
Fazilka, October 21

Resentment is brewing among Fazilka residents over the deteriorating condition of 117-year-old monument Raghuvar Bhawan.

The protected building is located on the Freedom Fighter Road. At present, it is part of the proposed Improvement Trust Colony.

The building is virtually on the verge of collapse. Four rooms of the monument have already collapsed and the remaining are in a shambles. The internal masonry has diminished and the outer wall has also started to give in.

“The building needs immediate attention to save it from total ruin,” said Gopi Ram, who runs a flour mill near the monument.

The building has seen the town grow from the British era.

“The building has now become a haven for drug addicts,” alleged Raj Kumar Chusiwala, an elderly resident who has seen the pillars and walls of the Bhawan fall gradually, thanks to the indifferent attitude of the successive governments.

“Instead of maintaining the oldest building of the town, the Municipal Council had set up a garbage dumping point near it, which was removed only after the intervention of Deputy Commissioner Manpreet Singh two days ago,” residents rued.

A local philanthropist, late Seth Sunder Mal Bansal had got the building constructed in 1901 after the name of his only son Raghuvar, who died in his youth. But Sunder Mal and his family members died in 1940s, no one has come forward to take care of the building.

After a prolonged agitation by the residents, the Punjab Government, under the Punjab Ancient and Historical Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, issued the final notification on August 2, 2016, to declare the building, situated in 4 kanal 18 marlas, a heritage monument.

“But after that, neither has a board on the heritage status been put up nor any grant has ever been released to maintain the building”, sources alleged.

The residents have demanded that the monument be developed as a tourist spot to save it from further damage.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Manpreet Singh said he would approach the government soon for release of funds to maintain the monument and set up a tourist place here.