Chamkaur Sahib theme park to see light of day

Arun Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ropar, June 30

After a long wait of 16 years, a theme park at Chamkaur Sahib will be opened for public this year. The foundation stone of the park was laid in 2004 to commemorate the tercentenary of the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s elder Sahibzadas — Baba Ajit Singh and Baba Jujhar Singh — in the Battle of Chamkaur Sahib.

On December 20, 2004, Capt Amarinder Singh, besides declaring Chamkaur Sahib as a subdivision, had announced a national memorial in the memory of the two elder Sahibzadas and 40 other Sikhs who had attained martyrdom while fighting the Mughals.

Though the first phase of the project was inaugurated by Capt Amarinder in his previous tenure, but 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.

Tourism and Culture Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said, “This theme park will be dedicated to the masses by the CM during the annual ‘Jor Mela’ this year. The galleries are being developed at a cost of Rs 33 crore.” He said Rs 16 crore had been spent on the structure and land acquisition.

Channi said they would develop a musical park and a 60-foot Khanda and two swords would be installed on the complex, he said.

The visitors would be introduced to the history of the Sikh Gurus in the first multimedia show, following which they would be shown the sakhi of martyr Bhai Jaita, who had brought the severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur from Delhi. The next three shows would be dedicated to Guru Gobind Singh, which would be followed by an animated show depicting the Battle of Chamkaur Sahib.

Other shows would portray the life of younger Sahibzadas, Battle of Muktsar, Zafarnama, Guru Granth Sahib installation and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Channi said Surjit Patar has been roped in for writing the scripts while Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh would recite poetry for the shows.