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Ludhiana: MC to reinstall 1965 war hero’s statue at Bharat Nagar Chowk
It was shifted first in 1995 during floodlight installation at the chowk and again near Rose Garden in 2021–22 for elevated bridge project on Ferozepur Road
After months of sustained pressure from residents and activists, the statue and Patton tank memorial of 1965 war hero and Maha Vir Chakra awardee, martyr Major Bhupinder Singh, will soon be restored to its original location at Bharat Nagar Chowk, ending a long-running controversy over the erasure of the city’s military legacy from one of its most prominent intersections.
The decision follows the completion of all mandatory approvals and a renewed push to accord due prominence to war memorials in public spaces.
Mayor Inderjeet Kaur, accompanied by the zonal commissioner, superintending engineer (B&R) and army representative Colonel Harish Kumar, visited the site on Thursday to review preparations. The mayor said permission for shifting the memorial from near Rose Garden back to Bharat Nagar Chowk had been granted by the competent authorities and directed officials to expedite the work.
The statue of Major Bhupinder Singh was originally installed at the chowk in 1980–81. In 1995, it was shifted about 100 metres away, outside a college, during the installation of floodlights at the chowk. It was relocated again in 2021–22 and placed near the Rose Garden when construction of the elevated bridge on Ferozepur Road was taken up.
Zonal commissioner Jasdev Sekhon, SE (B&R) Sham Lal Gupta, XEN Balwinder Singh and other officials were also present during the inspection. The mayor said the memorial would be installed at the centre of the roundabout and that the municipal corporation would undertake all requisite civil works, including lighting, landscaping and beautification.
“Once the preparatory work is completed, the statue and tank will be shifted within about a month,” she said, adding that restoring the memorial would be a fitting tribute to the martyr. Major Bhupinder Singh, a resident of village Harnampura in Ludhiana, was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for exceptional gallantry, leadership and devotion to duty during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. The issue had been repeatedly raised by the Public Action Committee (PAC), which staged protests in October last year, demanding that the memorial be reinstated at its original site.
The members of the residents’ body had also written to the deputy commissioner and the MC commissioner, objecting to attempts to install other structures at the chowk while the martyr’s memorial remained displaced.
PAC representatives engineer Kapil Dev and Kuldeep Khaira said the struggle, backed by city residents, had finally borne fruit. “The real heroes who gave Bharat Nagar Chowk its identity are returning. There can be no greater satisfaction,” they said.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding private branding and alleged unauthorised structures at the chowk has also come under renewed scrutiny. Activists alleged that modifications carried out in October by Hero Cycles Ltd violated urban design and traffic safety norms. They cited a 2013 Supreme Court order prohibiting private structures and advertisements at public junctions and claimed a complaint had been filed over unauthorised hoardings, a cycle structure and the raising of the platform.
The issue of language policy violations has also resurfaced. Sources said corrective steps were being initiated after the Punjab language department issued notices stressing mandatory use of Punjabi. The ‘I Love Ludhiana’ signage, officials said, would also be rewritten in Punjabi.
