Cobwebs, dust greet visitors at Jang-e-Azadi memorial at Kartarpur

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, June 6

Even as the Punjab Government spent a staggering Rs 315 crore on raising the colossal structure of the Jang-e-Azadi memorial at Kartarpur, it seems to be finding it hard to spare money for its monthly maintenance.

The memorial, located on the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway, is a famous stopover for a large number of tourists visiting the holy city. However, many of these visitors are left disappointed because of poor maintenance of the site. Cobwebs, layers of dust, excreta of stray animals and bird droppings greet visitors at the five galleries inside the memorial. When a team of The Tribune visited the site, it appeared that the floor had not been swept for days. Items on display had layers of dust. The glass top of the model of the memorial kept in the reception arcade was found broken and miniature pieces inside it had withered. Some table-mounted screens had lost their touch sensitivity.

The laser show at the memorial is no longer in a working condition. Tiles on the upper floors of the building have started falling off. The wall papers in the high domes have started coming off. There is no fuel replenishment for the flame burning inside the 45-m tall Shaheed-e-Minar.

The staff at the memorial said they had not been paid for the past six to 10 months. The employees had held a dharna and even kept the gates of the memorial closed for a few days in protest but it was opened on the intervention of the district administration. Eventually, the staff strength, which was 40 till about a year ago, has dropped to 12. It now has just one safai karamchari to maintain all structures on 25 acres. Among the rest are a few gardeners, security and ticketing staff and guides in the galleries for the visitors.

The CEO of the project and Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar, Himanshu Aggarwal, said, “I joined in Jalandhar in the midst of the LS poll. I could not find time to pay attention to the memorial. Now that I am free from election work, I will look into the problems at the site”.

The downfall of the memorial started last year when the Vigilance Bureau started an inquiry into allegations of misappropriation of funds in the project against Ajit Group managing editor Barjinder S Hamdard, IAS officer and former CEO Vinay Bublani, Ludhiana-based Deepak Builders and engineers of the PWD.

While the previous SAD and Congress governments had funded the project, the AAP government got the inquiry conducted into it.

The five galleries at the Jang-e-Azadi memorial are based on historical events, including the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, cellular jail, bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh, his hanging, the Ghadar Movement, Kuka Movement, etc. The scenes are depicted in the form of short films, visual effects, huge sculptures and text written on walls and screens.