WASHINGTON – The demolition and construction around Hazur Sahib to build visitors’ pavilions, in preparation for the 300-year anniversary of the guruship of the Guru Granth Sahib next year, is not damaging heritage sites, a construction official said. But conservationists consider many more of the structures in the construction corridor as heritage sites, and they are raising alarms of their destruction.

Parvinder Singh, chairman of the Nanded city administrative committee, said that Bunga Mai Bhago, the Baradari and two wells at the Hazur Sahib complex are heritage sites, and are being preserved. “How can I insult history? I am also a nature lover, but we must also be practical,” he said in a phone interview.

Parvinder Singh, who is also the director general of police in Maharashtra state, is butting heads with Gurmeet Rai, director of the Cultural Resources Conservation Initiative in Delhi, over other historical structures that Rai said have already been destroyed or are marked for destruction. The biggest battle is over the Ramgharia Bunga that is slated for demolition.

“She is misinforming everyone while sitting in Delhi,” said Parvinder Singh. “I asked her to please come to Nanded with me, but she never visited. I invite her to come here and have tea with me and talk about it.”

But Rai and a team of conservation architects did visit the site on December 21, said Amandeep Singh, author, historian and co-founder of the United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association. She did not meet with Parvinder Singh, but she met with Radheshyam Mowaplar, a local official, and other authorities, he said.

“When I last spoke to [Parvinder Singh] he was adamant that the bunga was not worth saving and that it would come down, but the owners would be compensated with an equivalent parcel of land. He denied knowledge of most other things. Since then, he stated to me that none of the buildings will be touched. I find him altogether a contrary and inconsistent,” Amandeep Singh said by email. “Despite his [assertions] about his love of history, he simply does not understand that the very buildings he is planning to bulldoze are of important historical value.”

Amandeep Singh has also been working to raise awareness of the demolition plans. The historical spaces where the tenth guru once lived, meditated, wrote, ministered and passed away, will be buried under the concrete foundations of commercial hostels, he wrote in an editorial of the association’s Punjab Heritage News.

Parvinder Singh conceded that there could be a difference between what he considers to be a heritage site and what the conservationists consider as heritage. Parvinder Singh said the bunga was used for commercial purposes and he did not regard it as a heritage site, although he said he was willing to talk it over with Rai, in person.

Rai could not be reached for an interview, but her Jan 2 report – including demolition photographs she took – in the Punjab Heritage News, tells a daunting story: “The threat to the historical built heritage has started as the gurdwara and state authorities have started to bulldoze monuments in preparation for modern buildings …The proposed plan lacks adequate sensitivity to the heritage buildings…”

She wrote that a team of conservation architects and urban designers visited the site slated for construction of large buildings and wide-open spaces, referred to as a Galiyara, around the inner sanctum. They examined historic buildings within the precinct of Hazur Sahib and noted the ones threatened to be demolished. Rai included the Ramgarhia Bunga and a garden as heritage sites of concern, in addition to the ones Parvinder Singh had mentioned.

Some structures of unknown significance, in close proximity to the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib, were already demolished, Rai wrote. And a food storage building, called Modikhana, was being demolished during her December visit. Other heritage structures, she said, were being lost due to neglect.

The problem is also that construction experts do not know how to preserve old structures. Parvinder Singh said that some of the walls of the Baradari, for example, are so fragile they fall apart just by touching. He said he had hired top architects to find a way to save the Baradari from breaking further, but they have not found a good solution. “How do you fix it? They should come and tell us how to save these structures,” he said, referring to the conservationists.

According to the Nanded city development plan, millions of devotees are expected to visit Hazur Sahib where Guru Gobind made Guru Granth Sahib the eternal living guru before he died in 1708.

Heritage Sites of Hazur Sahib

Stables – The stables were used to house Guru Gobind Singh’s horses when he came to Nanded.

Water Well - A historic well in the court behind the inner sanctum is associated with Guru Gobind Singh. Its sweet water is still used in cooking langar. The well needs conservation, and recent structures built around it must be removed.

Baradari – A structure built during the times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to house the Guru Granth Sahib and the weapons of Guru Gobind Singh while the sanctum was under construction in early 19th century.

Stepwell - In the forecourt of the inner sanctum, this historic stepwell is used by visitors to wash their feet before entering the sanctum.

Ramgarhia Bunga – Rai called it “a unique example of vernacular architecture.” It is threatened by demolition and digging too close to its structure. The structure was built during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh to provide accommodation to the masons who arrived from Punjab to build the inner sanctum of Hazur Sahib with the offerings sent by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Mai Bhago Bunga – A large room to the east of the sanctum was the residence of Mai Bhago.

Garden - a small garden within the complex, trees of which need to be retained as a respite for the pilgrims from extreme weather conditions and visual relief should be preserved.


Note: By Anju Kaur
anjukaur@sikhnn.com

Images courtesy Tribune India, Rediff and Google Earth.