Bhagat Singh memorial construction to start next month

NOIDA: With Independence Day round the corner, the Noida Authority has finalized the agency for constructing a proposed Shaheed Smarak in memory of martyr, Sardar Bhagat Singh. The memorial will be located in village Nalgaraha, which was a hideout and bomb-making centre for Bhagat Singh during India’s freedom movement. Today the village is part of Sector 145, off the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, an address boasting swanky residential towers and modern infrastructure.
According to officials, the proposed project aims at turning Nalgaraha into a historic and patriotic landmark with new recreational amenities.“A land sprawling about 13 acres has been earmarked for the project,” said a senior Noida official. “Rs 25 crore has been budgeted for the memorial,” he added saying that construction should start by August 15.
The official further said that the layout plan, landscaping design, horticulture plan, architectural drawings, etc has already been finalized by Vastu Nidhi consultant. “We have now finalized the agency, Pundrikaksh Developers, which will construct the memorial. The Smarak will be ready in the next two years,” he added.
As per officials, the memorial is being constructed so that Bhagat Singh’s legacy lives on. “We want Bhagat Singh to live on in the hearts of not only the older generation but the younger generation as well as. Through the memorial, we will put on show Bhagat Singh’s secular ideals for the world to view. Nalgaraha, which is steeped in history will be promoted as not only a pilgrimage place but also a tourist spot,” said the official. “Bhagat Singh’s anti-communal stand, his determined fight against inequality and democratic ideologies need to be promoted and we will attempt to do it through Nalgaraha,” he added.
Nalgaraha as remembered by its residents was once thick forest land where Bhagat Singh along with his aides would plan his attacks against the British. Residents of the village recall old tales passed down through the generations. One such legend that every resident of the village believes in is that the bombs thrown in the Central Legislative Assembly by Bhagat Singh in 1929 were made in Nalgaraha.