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Jang-e-Azadi memorial probe: Punjab VB summons Barjinder Singh Hamdard
Shiromani Akali Dal reacts strongly to Ajit Group editor-in-chief being summoned, says he is being targeted by Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government
Three months after the vigilance bureau initiated an inquiry into alleged misuse of funds during the execution of the ₹315-crore Jang-e-Azadi Memorial dedicated to freedom fighters at Kartarpur near Jalandhar, the VB has summoned Ajit Group of newspapers editor-in-chief Barjinder Singh Hamdard on May 29.
Hamdard, who was instrumental in the conception and construction of the project since 2012, quit as member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and as its managing committee president on April 10, blaming the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government of “repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams”.
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Spread over 25 acres at Kartarpur and located 18km from Jalandhar, the mega project was the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government’s dream project.
In March, the VB initiated the probe after a complaint at its head office regarding the financial execution of the project. VB teams conducted surprise checks at the memorial several times and have gathered records from drawings to funds sanctioned by the state government from 2014-16. Officials of the public works department, water supply and sanitation and contractors involved in the construction have been questioned.
The SAD reacted strongly to his being summoned, saying he is being targeted by the AAP.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal tweeted, “It’s shameful. This brazen act of a power drunk @BhagwantMann and his AAP govt against the voice of Panth and Punjab - Ajit, and against Padma Bhushan S Barjinder S Hamdard. This is clearly a revenge against Hamdard sahab for his principled stand on freedom of the Press.”
He added, “This govt run by non-Punjabis can never silence the voice of Punjab’s conscience. @Akali_Dal_ stands by Hamdard sahab & Ajit newspaper (Punjab Di Awaaz) against this arrogance of power.”
While resigning from the memorial’s managing committee, Hamdard alleged that the state government was initiating a frivolous probe that was an insult to hundreds of martyrs. “The state government is sending police at the memorial site multiple times, which is a humiliation. The state tourism department has been conducting an audit every year since its inception but the AAP government is hell-bent on insulting the martyrs,” he said.
Hamdard had resigned during the Congress rule, citing personal reasons but then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had asked him to continue working for the betterment of the state-of-the-art infrastructure.
The memorial was one of the dream projects of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal as the first phase was opened to the public in 2016. During his tenure, Captain Amarinder Singh ensured all financial assistance and logistics to complete the second phase of the project in 2018.
The memorial is a unique piece of art that has a minaret, a seminar hall, an auditorium, a movie hall, a cafeteria, a library, an open-air theatre for laser show and an amphitheatre.
