Sunam awaits martyr Udham Singh’s memorial

Parvesh Sharma
Tribune News Service
Sunam (Sangrur), December 16

Even two years after the laying of foundation stone, work hasn’t started on the memorial for martyr Udham Singh in Sunam Udham Singh Wala.

Area residents along with local MLA Aman Arora on Sunday announced to launch indefinite hunger strike after December 26 (Shaheed Udham Singh’s birth anniversary), if the authorities failed to release Rs 2.28 crore sanctioned for the memorial.

“On December 25, 2016, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had laid the memorial’s foundation stone, while on July 31 this year, the state government had announced sanctioning of Rs 2.28 crore, but till date not a single penny has reached Sunam. I along with local committees, Shaheed Udham Singh Yadgar Committee and Ram Mohd Singh Azad Club, will start indefinite strike after December 26,” said AAP MLA Arora.

“Wild growth has come up around the stone on the Cheema road here. The spot is cleaned only on the Martyrdom Day on July 31 and on the martyr’s birthday on December 26,” he claimed.

On July 31, Cabinet Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot had announced that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had sanctioned Rs 2.28 crore for the memorial. He had also said that Rs 1 crore as the first installment would be released soon and the construction work would also begin.

“Our repeated requests for the release of the sanctioned grant have fallen on deaf ears. We will start the protest after December 26,” said Avtar Singh, president of the Ram Mohd Azad Club.

Sunam Sub-Divisional Magistrate Manjit Kaur said the government had not released any grant as yet.

“Our communication with the Punjab Cultural Affairs Department is going on. Hopefully, the grant will be released soon,” the SDM added.