IEP Chandigarh, April 25
The Martyrs’s Memorial (Shaheed Smarak) being constructed at Ambala Cantonment in Haryana will be one of its kind in the country. The Martyrs Memorial will give a new identity to innumerable unsung warriors and fighters at the national and international level, since the first freedom struggle of 1857. Contribution of people of Haryana will be attractively displayed so that the youth can draw inspiration from the life and valor of the martyrs. This monument will have a unique confluence of technology and history. The construction of the Shaheed Smarak is in the final stage and in order to display the information of history in an interesting way, a meeting was held today under the Chairmanship of Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations, Language and Culture Department, Dr. Amit Agrawal at Haryana Bhawan, New Delhi with the historians, who are the members of the Shaheed Smarak Nirman Samiti. It was apprised in the meeting that in the next 15 days, a detailed plan of the memorial will be prepared and shared with all the members of the committee. After taking their suggestions, a final decision will be taken in this regard. Dr. Amit Agrawal said that apart from installing photo panels in this memorial, with the help of light and sound, efforts will be made to display the glorious journey of modern Haryana from pre-history to the present stage journey. He informed that from the first freedom struggle of 1857 to the contribution of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose INA in the freedom struggle and how the people of Haryana endured the tortures of the then British government. He added that all such important historical information will be vividly displayed with a brief description. Dr. Agrawal said that the visitors coming to the memorial will get to know about the rich history of Haryana and it would become a sure ‘destination visit’ for the tourists and locals. He said that major construction work of this monument has been completed and in the next one and a half months the final decision on the material to be displayed in the monument will be taken and the work will be allotted to the concerned agency. He hoped that by the coming October this memorial will be completely ready and open to the general public. Committee member and Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, Prof. Raghuvendra Tanwar said that this monument will be unique of its kind in the whole country because of its large size and inclusion of detailed facts related to history. It has also been decided in today’s meeting that all the members should visit the Red Fort Museum and other museums prepared by the Archives Department based on the first battle of 1857. He added that members will explore the gaps which should be incorporated in the Martyrs’ Memorial, Ambala Cantonment. Col. Yogender (Retd.), member of the committee made a presentation. Renowned historian Prof. Kapil Kumar, Archivist, National Museum of India, Dr. Devender Kumar Sharma, Director and Vice-Chancellor, National Museum Institute, Prof. Dr. Anupa Pandey, former history head of Sanatan Dharma Mahavidyalaya History Department, Dr. Udayveer, Historian, Sh. TajenderWalia, Additional Director of Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Dr. Kuldeep Saini, Haryana Public Works Executive Engineer, Sh. Rajkumar also gave their suggestions.
