With Soil From All 13,000 Villages, Punjab To Build Jallianwala Memorial

To commemorate 100 years of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Punjab government is planning to build a memorial in Amritsar with soil from all 13,000 villages of the state. As per an official note issued by the Chief Minister's office, the Rural Development and Panchayats have been designated as the nodal department to coordinate with the Panchayats of all villages across the state for this cause.

The Chief Minister has also asked Amritsar Deputy Commissioner to identify a strategic spot in the city where the memorial could be erected with soil brought from these villages. He also 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 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, 2019. Captain Amarinder also asked the ACS Home to make elaborate security arrangements to ensure hassle-free access to the people for paying respects to the martyrs at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial. At the same time, he said, the devotees visiting Sri Darbar Sahib should not be put to any sort of inconvenience caused during the centenary commemorations," the note read.

In addition to erecting the memorial, Captain Singh 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." He also asked the ACS Higher Education and Secretary School Education to organise seminars, symposiums, declamation contests and panel discussions on the various aspects of the tragedy.