House for Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann in Jalandhar set in 11 acres, is older than 1857 war

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 25

An 11-acre property in the heart of Jalandhar is being readied for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, so that he can fulfil his recent promise of making this ancient city his second home.

House Number 1, in the Old Baradari area of the city, is older than the 1857 First War of Independence. In fact, the first British Commissioner of Jalandhar division, Sir John Lawrence, moved into this house back in 1848 —until then, Jalandhar was part of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s empire — when it was constructed with unique Nanakshahi bricks and limestone, prevalent building material of the time.

The façade as well as the building’s interiors mostly remain the same. In the main hall hang two rifles dating back to the British era. The house has four drawing rooms, four bedrooms, three office rooms, an outer enclosed verandah and 10 two-room family flats for the helping staff. The outside landscape is a sight for sore eyes — a huge lake, several gardens and a back gate that is cheek by jowl with the local Jullundur Gymkhana Club.

In the last 176 years, as many as 140 Commissioners have lived in this house. The last Divisional Commissioner, IAS officer Gurpreet Sapra, was politely asked to leave when the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) zeroed in on this property. In any case, it is said, she held two other posts in Chandigarh and Ropar and would visit Jalandhar about once a week. The new Commissioner, Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal, is believed to have his own home in JP Nagar in the city.

Chief Minister Mann will be the 141st occupant of this house, but he won’t be allowed to make any structural changes because of the “protected monument” status given to it by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2002-03. Nevertheless, the PWD has sent in trucks loaded with bricks, cement and other construction material. The work on raising the outer boundary wall has begun. Minor renovations to the roof will take place, along with a fresh coat of paint. Nothing else can be changed because of its heritage status.

That is why plans for more security pickets as well as permanent waiting lounges for people attending ‘Sarkar Tuhade Dwar’ events have been shelved for now. “Like in the previous house, the plan is to have collapsible German tents for visitors for the time being,” officials said.

Sources in the CMO said Mann was “really looking forward” to living in a house with so much history in it — officials of the British Raj once occupied it, as did those who served in the exclusive Indian Civil Service (ICS), the very powerful bureaucratic precursor to the IAS.

INTACH state convener Maj Gen Balwinder Singh (retd) told The Tribune that it was a good sign that buildings with such a strong historical past were finally being appreciated, and that the fact that the Chief Minister himself was going to live in one would undoubtedly give a fillip to the appreciation of Punjab’s very special heritage.

However, he added, “The conservation of such heritage residential buildings must be carried out by conservation experts such as those of INTACH so that its heritage value is retained. If any modification is to be done, it must be done with the same material that was used during its initial construction like colonial gazed bricks set in lime mortar.”