It was a journey into the glorious past and illuminating present with a lot of promises for tomorrow. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Monday led a media walk to showcase the beautified look of the holy city of Amritsar with light thrown on various phases in history the city has been through.
From the plaza at the main entrance of Harmandir Sahib, to the Partition Museum at Town Hall, narrative-based Multimedia Interpretation Centre conveying the story of Sikh religion and its humanitarian philosophy, the striking Heritage Street, remarkable sculptures including the one outside Jallianwala Bagh, and what not — Sukhbir played a perfect host explaining each and every aspect and minute detail to the visitors.
Sukhbir announced to beautify and renovate Durgiana Mandir, besides preserving the streets around the Darbar Sahib.
Known for its cuisine, religious and heritage structures, unique culture, the ‘Guru ki Nagri’ wore a different festive kind of a look. It was shining beautifully in all its splendour.
Starting with the plaza at the main entrance of Harmandir Sahib, Sukhbir said that it was developed at a cost of `250 crore with the services of the best architects and consultants from all over the country were hired for undertaking this project of great importance.
“Darbar Sahib remains the single biggest magnet for tourism in not only Amritsar but the entire globe and therefore it is of prime importance to manage these huge footfalls,” he said, while announcing that in the second phase, all streets leading to Darbar Sahib would be given heritage look similar to the heritage street.
“It is a God gifted sewa for me to have undertaken task of giving unique cultural look to the street… I feel blessed to have contributed something to society,” he said.
Going further, Sukhbir announced that in the next five years, “The whole city would witness a facelift and transformation in true traditional style”.
Visiting Partition Museum at Town Hall, he explained, “This museum brings together memorabilia in shape of photos, files, recorded memories, artefacts and documents related to partition… This museum would showcase all aspects of partition for younger generation.”
Disclosing more, Sukhbir highlighted the narrative-based Multimedia Interpretation Centre being built at a cost of `50 crore in the entrance plaza of the Golden Temple, “First of its kind anywhere in the country, perhaps the world, to convey the story of Sikh religion and its humanitarian philosophy to the visitors in a comprehensive manner using latest state of the art technologies”.
“The unique feature is that Punjabi, and two other Indian language options open up the history of the Darbar Sahib to people of other communities as they move through four galleries,” he said.
Then came the magnum opus — the very beautiful heritage street in which, for the first time in the country, almost 170 buildings on the Heritage Street surrounding Harmandir Sahib have been given a facelift at a cost of `160 crore.
He explained, “Strongly depicting the values of Indian Constitution, the model of Parliament House along with Baba Sahib Ambedkar’s statue is one of its kind ever built in our country. The road also represents the values of our freedom struggle by erecting a unique rock sculpture in front of Jallianwala Bagh which will be lit with an eternal flame of our freedom struggle.”
Moving on further, he showed the famous Fuwara Chowk which once had the statue of Queen Victoria but where now, proudly stands the grand statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Sukhbir termed these architectural wonders as the necessities in order to help connect the youth of state with their age old traditions, culture and historical roots.