Golden Temple Plaza project sees first hope

Amritsar, October 14, 2013(Harkirat Singh)-Running behind schedule, the much-awaited Golden Temple Entry Plaza project has begun to take shape finally, with the first phase likely to be ready by Diwali.So began
the project to beautify the 30-metre periphery around the Golden Temple, with liberal funding from the union government. The first four phases, of demolishing the buildings and creating an open green space that will include musical fountains, were planned and completed in five years.
The Clock Tower entrance remained the only gap. The area outside the SGPC serais (rest houses) and offices turned an eyesore. After 2003, the market opposite the entrance gave way to small trees. However, in 2007, when the Akalis were voted back to power, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal asked for a new design to go with the shrine’s marble flooring.In the late 2010, under the supervision of the-then deputy commissioner, KS Pannu, the plaza began to take shape.

In the winter of 2012, the CM laid the project’s foundation stone, and then assumed it would be finished in two years. The way the cranes and bulldozers worked in the initial days, the deadline seemed realistic.
It wasn’t long before the private engineers and PWD officials found that it wouldn’t be so easy, as a mesh of underground sewers and water pipes would require months to be uprooted and re-laid.
“We had no maps of the sewerage network, and before disconnecting any pipe, we had to first lay an alternative line,” said an official in the construction company (he didn’t want to be named).
As design required major part of the plaza to be below the surface, the massive digging involved caused a lot of inconvenience to the devotees, who had to take a detour to reach the shrine. VIP traffic led to logjams in Katra Ahluwalia Market and near Jallianwala Bagh.
In April last year, the CM then set a deadline for completing the first phase; he wanted it done by Diwali in 2012. He asked the engineers to use every inch of space and not worry about money.
He got his technical adviser, lieutenant general (retd) BS Dhaliwal, to inspect the work every fortnight and give him the update. Still, the ground floor won’t be ready before this Diwali, and no deadline as yet fixed for the basement.
Constructors are using the samequality “markana” marble that covers the Parikrama (walking circle) of the shrine. “The flooring will meet the surface outside the Clock Tower entrance and be identical,” stated a PWD official, making it clear that the shops outside will remain.
It’s possible to marble a major portion by Diwali, including the basement that will have audiovisual information centre.
The basement will include audio-visual information centre, VIP parking lot, conference room, Internet cafés, trainticket booking kiosks, and waiting halls. “The inside is also marble, making the way easy and adding to the beauty,” stated GNDU professor and engineer SS Behl.