UNESCO heritage hammer hits Punjab Vidhan Sabha

Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 8

When the entire state machinery and members of the Legislative Assembly are busy in Lok Sabha elections, a demolition drive has been underway at the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to remove and undo the alterations done over the past five decades.

The demolition drive is being carried out by the Engineering Department of Chandigarh Administration, on the directions of UT’s Architecture Department. The exercise is aimed at restoring the building to its original status since it is part of the Chandigarh Capitol Complex, which was given status of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

Substantial renovation work was carried out in the Vidhan Sabha when Nirmal Singh Kahlon was Speaker during the SAD-BJP’s 2007-12 tenure. At the time, teak wood panelling of all the concrete pillars and walls was undertaken. A new members’ lounge was also built with teak wood partitions and modern furniture. Apart from that, red carpet was laid on the ramps of the building.

Now, work is on to dismantle all the wooden panels and alterations. Even LED screens and lights and wall panels have been removed.

Sources said at present the demolition is being done only in the public spaces, where visitors are allowed. But all offices, including that of the Chief Minister, ministers and the Speaker, may also be hit by the demolition drive as a large number of alterations were done in the original structure.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh was not available for comment, but former Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon said he kept on “beautifying that place” during his entire term. 

“My only intention was that the place should look beautiful. It is disturbing that they have dismantled everything,” he added.

Kanwar Sandhu, AAP MLA and chairman of Public Accounts Committee of Vidhan Sabha, said it was nothing but wastage of public exchequer. “Why did people who got the structure altered, or those responsible to check the alterations not act earlier? A lot of public money has been wasted.”

A UT official said the Punjab government was reluctant and it took a lot of time to make it agree to the restoration drive.

Kapil Setia, Chandigarh’s Chief Architect, said that since Vidhan Sabha was given the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Capitol Complex, “so to retain that status, it was required to remove all the alterations done in the original structure. At present, our emphasis is only on superficial aesthetics but in the next phase, if required, we will start work on the other spaces of the Vidhan Sabha also”. 

Capitol Complex...

The Chandigarh Capitol Complex comprises three buildings (Assembly, Secretariat and High Court), three monuments (Open Hand Monument, Geometric Hill and Tower of Shadows) and a lake