Capt writes to Modi for Central assistance

To commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhs’ first master, Guru Nanak Dev, next year in a grand and befitting manner, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday sought Rs 2,145.31 crores financial assistance from the Central Government for undertaking various infrastructural projects and special programmes in towns and cities associated with the first Sikh guru.

 Capt Amarinder, in a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggested that a National Organising Committee, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, be constituted to oversee the celebrations of this historic event across the country.

Capt Amarinder, who is also the chairman of the state level Organizing Committee, said that he will be personally meeting the Prime Minister soon to discuss the issue. “While a year-long calendar of events is being prepared for organizing commemorative events across various states, the primary focus of the celebrations will be at places like Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala), Dera Baba Nanak and Batala (Gurdaspur) that have had a deep association with the Sikhs’ first guru,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that it would be in fitness of things that, as a part of these celebrations, the towns of Sultanpur Lodhi, Dera Baba Nanak, Batala and Guru-Har-Sahai, where some of the relics of Guru Nanak Dev are kept, be taken up for special infrastructural development as towns of religious and historical importance.

He urged the Prime Minister that besides this, the Central Government should also dedicate certain special projects in Punjab to commemorate the historic event.

In a detailed memorandum, submitted along with his letter, the Chief Minister has sought Rs 875.03 crores for upgradation of infrastructure in the historic towns of Sultanpur Lodhi, Dera Baba Nanak, Guru-Har-Sahai and Batala.

The proposed works listed primarily pertains to up-gradation of civic roads and bridges infrastructures in these towns. The Chief Minister has suggested that the funds could be released from the Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs and Road Transport and Highways.

The Chief Minister has also sought a special grant of Rs 350 crores from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for setting up the Sri Guru Nanak Dev National Institute of Inter-Faith Studies at Amritsar.

The institute, for which the land will be made available by the state Government, proposes to focus on the life and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, besides providing a forum for study and research on the first Sikh Guru and on comparative religions.

The proposed institute will have centers dedicated to Comparative Religions, Conflict Resolution, Life and teachings of Sri Guru Nanak Dev, and Symphony of Music.

The Chief Minister has sought assistance of Rs 500 crores for setting up of a 500-bed Sri Guru Nanak Dev Medical College and Super-Specialty Hospital in Gurdaspur.

Pointing out that the border districts of Gurdaspur and Pathankot had inadequate healthcare facilities, the Chief Minister said that the proposed state-of-the-art Super-specialty hospital will have all the major super-specializations, including Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Oncology, besides 150 under graduate and appropriate Post Graduation seats for medicine.

A special grant of Rs 200 crores has also been sought through the Ministry of Culture for setting up a heritage village — Pind Babe Nanak Da — which will depict the life and times of Guru Nanak.

The proposed village, to be set up in an area of 75-100 acres in Sultanpur Lodhi, will be walled for security reasons and will be modeled as a typical village of the 15th or 16th century. It will have a number of dwelling units, each depicting a particular incident of the life of Guru Nanak Dev, as per the State Government’s proposal.

This heritage village will be a part of a multi-disciplinary project and will include rejuvenation and development of Kanjli wetlands and the holy Kali Bein river.

Besides, the State Government has also sought another Rs 100 crore for setting up 40 other heritage villages across 15 districts of Punjab, which were extensively travelled by the first Sikh Guru.

The State Government intends to develop these 40 heritage villages with certain basic parameters of facilities to be made available in them, which include a primary, middle or higher secondary school, a Primary Health Centre, a veterinary hospital and an Anganwadi Centre.         

These villages will also be promoted as hubs for economic activity, with a functional rural ‘haat’ (focal point) and a co-operative service and a skill development centers.

A grant Rs 100 crores has also been sought for the proposed year-long commemorative events, which will kick-start with a nagar kirtan from either from Nankana Sahib or Wagah Border, with the main events beginning at Sultanpur Lodhi, a town most closely associated with the first guru.

The celebrations, as well as the nagar kirtan, will conclude at Dera Baba Nanak, adjoining Kartarpur (now in Pakistan), where the Guru breathed his last. In addition, the Government also proposes to organise international seminars, symposia, exhibitions, competitions in schools, colleges and universities, etc, to commemorate the historic occasion. Several important national dignitaries are expected to attend the celebrations, the memorandum points out.