In the centenary year of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and to commemorate the tragic event, Punjab Government on Friday decided to build a memorial in Amritsar with soil from all the 13,000 villages of the state to eulogise the immense contribution of Punjabis in the national freedom struggle.
The decision got the go-ahead from the Chief Minister during a meeting the State Level Implementation Committee regarding Centenary Commemoration of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre here.
The Rural Development and Panchayats has been designed the nodal department to coordinate with the Panchayats of the nearly 13,000 villages across the State for this cause. The Chief Minister has also asked the Deputy Commissioner Amritsar to identify a strategic spot in the city, where a suitable memorial would be erected with the soil brought from these villages.
Capt Amarinder has directed the Cultural Affairs and Tourism Department to engage with the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, which had created the Partition Museum at Town Hall, Amritsar, to conceptualise and plan the Jallianwala memorial.
The Chief Minister has asked the Principal Secretary Cultural Affairs to coordinate with all the concerned departments to ensure a grand function at Amritsar on April 13, this year.
The Chief Minister directed the Cultural Affairs department to organise commemorative functions at historic places like Sunam Udham Singh Wala, Khatkar Kalan, Jagraon, Malerkotla etc associated with freedom fighters and martyrs of the national independence struggle.
Capt Amarinder suggested that the Department of School Education should include a chapter in its curriculum on the Jallianwala Bagh carnage to imbibe the spirit of patriotism and nationalism amongst the students.
Apprising the Chief Minister about the decisions taken by the State Level Implementation Committee, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said that with a special focus on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Art and Culture Heritage Trust would organise a Heritage Walk in the old Amritsar town, in addition to an exhibition depicting some known and unknown facts about the massacre. Apart from these, an exhibition would also be held in 10 cities of the state to highlight the saga of the Indian freedom struggle.
It was also informed in the meeting by the Principal Secretary Cultural Affairs that a coffee table book on Jallianwala Bagh was being prepared with the help and guidance of Punjab Lalit Kala Academy.
A two-day Jallianwala Bagh centenary Lit-Fest would be organised in GNDU Amritsar and dramas in Hindi and Punjabi would be organised by North Zone Cultural Centre in association with National School of Drama.