Madan Lal Dhingra memorial to be a reality

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 6

Six years after the demolition of the house of freedom fighter Madan Lal Dhingra, who was executed in London in 1909, the Capt Amarinder Singh government has decided to construct a memorial at the place.

After the state government gave its nod to raise a national monument at the birth place of Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has initiated the process to procure the land.

The buyer of the house had demolished the original structure in 2012. The martyr was born here on February 18, 1883.

In 2009, the Parkash Singh Badal government had celebrated the centenary of Madan Lal Dhingra’s martyrdom. The demand to convert his house into a museum has been taken up with higher officials since then.

MC Commissioner Sonali Giri said the civic body was asked to ascertain the market price of 430 square yard plot where once the house of the freedom fighter stood. It falls in a street inside the Sikandari Gate, which is a thriving market place. “Another detailed project report of constructing a memorial and museum will be prepared,” she said.

Madan Lal Dhingra Shaheed Smarak Samiti, headed by former health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, has been mobilising opinion and raking up demand of making a memorial for the past many years.

Chawla said the government accepted the demand to perpetuate the memory of the martyr among the contemporary youth and generations by raising a memorial and museum. “On behalf of the Samiti, I have submitted an undertaking to maintain the memorial,” she said.

She said it would be a great tribute to the martyr who laid his life for the nation at the age of 26.