Chamkaur Sahib theme park to see light of day after 16 years

Strap: Capt Amarinder had laid stone in 2004 on tercentenary of two elder Sahibzadas

Arun Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ropar, June 28

After a long wait of 16 years, a theme park whose foundation stone 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 will be opened for public this year.

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

Though the first phase of the project was inaugurated by Capt Amarinder in his previous tenure, but the work on the project halted during the term of the SAD-BJP government. After the Congress came 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 Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh during annual ‘Jor Mela’ this year. The galleries are being developed at cost of Rs 33 crore.” He said Rs 16 crore has 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. Brass statues of five Sikh warriors would also come up in the park, he said.

The visitors would be introduced with the history of ten Sikh Gurus in the first multimedia show following which they would be shown a story of martyr Bhai Jaita, who had brought severed head of Guru Tegh Badaur from Delhi. 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 life of younger Sahibzadas, Battle of Muktsar, Zafarnama, Guru Granth Sahib installation and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Channi said Surjit Patar, a Punjabi writer and poet, has been roped in for writing scripts and Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh would recite poetry for the shows.