Park may wipe out 'Harappan' site in Sangrur village

MARD KHERA (Sangrur): Traces of an ancient civilzation in Mard Khera village, 5 km off Sangrur, are being mindlessly obliterated. Tonnes of earth from the excavation site, are being callously used to fill a village pond under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) and a park is being planned on the mound. This will forever bury the chance of discovering a veritable treasure of facts about a 1,000-year-old civilization in Punjab.
According to archaeologists and remote sensing imaging experts, the mound of earth could be a human settlement of Harappan civilization as artifacts like pottery and terracotta cakes have already been found there. The entire upper crust of the mound has been recently dug up by villagers to fill a pond and now the panchayat is mulling over constructing a park at the site.
As per local lore, the mound is 1,000 years old and villagers have often stumbled on articles like bangles, earthen pots, kitchen articles and ornaments at the spot, especially during heavy rain. Villagers discovered the bust of a Hindu deity from the site a few years ago, much different from the idols of medieval or modern periods. It mysteriously disappeared few years ago from the place of worship it had been installed at. "Earth from the site was recently dug out to fill a village pond. Now, we are planning to construct a park here," said Nachhattar Singh of Mard Khera.
In the mid-1990s, a team of the department of ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology of Panjab University, Chandigarh, conducted excavation at Mard Khera and found articles which supported the villagers' claim. Based on this, the Indian Archaeological Review ? annual publication of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) ? reported in its 1993-94 issue, "From Mard Khera, located on road to Patiala, were collected Harappan pottery, terracotta cakes, in addition to some fragments of early medieval times."
Similarly, while studying the presence of palaeochannels (remnants of drainage/irrigation systems used in ancient times), a research paper, "Elucidation of Palaeochannels in part of Punjab Using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System", mentioned that "archaeological evidences such as broken pieces of pottery were observed during field visits from Kupp Rheda, Chhapaar and Mard Khera villages?.It was found that all the sites fall on or along the channels, suggesting a close relationship between palaeochannels and ancient civilization."
Villager Jagtar Singh said, "Around seven years ago, digging was carried out here for around 10 days. They excavated some articles and buried them in a corner of the mound. They never returned after that."
"Till few years ago, we routinely found mud articles and grave-like structures while tilling our fields. Even human bones were found by the villagers," added Jagtar, whose fields are adjacent to the mound.
'Not ASI protected'
V C Sharma, superintendent archeologist, ASI, said, "Mard Khera is a known ancient site and has been referred to in several reports about recovery of artifacts. Some team might have visited it in the past but it is not an excavation site. It has not been declared a protected site by ASI."