Day to go for Parkash Utsav, Nanak Nagri struggling with roads, lighting

The holy town of Sultanpur Lodhi was declared Smart City ahead of the 550th Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019, but five years on it is doing little justice to the tag.

While big projects such as the Rs 500-crore plan for setting up heritage village ‘Pind Babe Nanak Da’ are yet to take off, the basic amenities in the town also leave much to be desired on the eve of the 555th Gurpurb celebrations.

Town in darkness

We have Gurpurb celebrations in Sultanpur Lodhi but the entire town is submerged in darkness. The government and local administration have completely failed in their duties. Rana Inder Partap, local MLA (Independent)

Gurpurb is just two days away, but the roads of the town remain in a deplorable condition. One can gauge the situation from the fact that Local Bodies Minister Dr Ravjot Singh had to visit the place thrice in the past three weeks to ensure the roads were repaired ahead of the Parkash Utsav on November 15.

The minister visited the town on Sunday and stated that a show cause notice had been issued to the Superintending Engineer, PWD (B&R), and the XEN, Sewerage Board, for not completing the work within the deadline. As the big day nears, interlocking tiles are being laid to cover trenches dug up in the middle of roads for sewerage work.

Nearly 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh pilgrims from Punjab and beyond are set to visit the town for the Gurpurb festivity. A nagar kirtan will also be taken out in the town on Thursday, but the dusty and patchworked roads remain an eyesore. The town, which is a part of Kapurthala district and is located about 47 km from Jalandhar, is historically important as Guru Nanak lived here for 14 years. There are eight historical gurdwaras, including the main Gurdwara Ber Sahib, in the town associated with the Guru.

“The roads around Gurdwara Ber Sahib too are in a bad condition. Since the roads have become so dusty after the repair work, we have asked officials to have the roads covered with mats here. Even the garbage is not being removed from the city on a daily basis,” said Navtej Cheema, a former Congress MLA in whose tenure the development works had started. He blames the AAP government for the poor upkeep of the place.

While Aam Aadmi Party MP Balbir S Seechewal too flagged the poor sewerage, saying it had only been partially laid in the town, local MLA (Independent) Rana Inder Partap raised the issue of non-functional streetlights. “We have Gurpurb celebrations in town but the entire town is submerged in darkness. The government and local administration have completely failed in their duties,” he said.