Punjab (The Stellar News) Saksham Kalia: In October 2014, Shiromini Akali Dal allied BJP Punjab Government under the tutelage of Former CM Prakash Singh Badal inaugurated the Jang-e-azadi memorial in Kartarpur to showcase the unforgettable sacrifice of Freedom Fighters. A huge amount of Rs 200cr was spent for this project.
The whole idea was to make Public aware about the sacrifice and pain of those who fought for freedom.
The Jang-e-azadi building was built to pay homage to many freedom fighters and people died in the fight against cruel British rule. But the idea just remained bounded in four walls of memorial.
Amid the poor publicity by government and lack of governance by administration, people don’t even know the existence of such project. Amid the higher ticket charges and restricted Video and photography inside the building, it became the least visited spot by tourists.
The important message of freedom that should be convened to common public by the memorial is stopped amid the excessive ticket charges of Rs 100 for above 18 and Rs 50 for below 18.
We have example of Virasat-e-khalsa which portrays the teachings of 10 Sikh Gurus and their disciplined life. Each part of building shows the beautiful life lessons of gurus, give important message to common public by visual images and videos that is totally free for visitors.
Other hearing devices which will give knowledge related to the picture or sculpture planted in the memorial is provided for free to local as well as foreign tourists, so that they should get information in any language as in Virasat-e-Khalsa.
Most of other such memorials like Shri Anandpur Saheb are almost free for public, they might charge for food and other amenities for earning. But applying tickets on such memorials is not a good idea.
In our opinion, such protocols should be abolished and the administration should reach colleges, universities and schools for organising educational trips so that students would get historical information and take inspiration from the freedom fighters.
Such new protocols should be adopted so that this beautifully made memorial and freedom fighters will get its real importance in the hearts of people.
