Conserve Bhai Vir Singh’s traditional well

AMRITSAR: Conservationists here have demanded that the government declare the well situated in the house of Bhai Vir Singh as a heritage structure.
Born in Amritsar on December 5, 1872, a year before the beginning of Singh Sabha Movement, Bhai Vir Singh became the inspiration and guiding spirit for masses as he devoted his life for the rejuvenation of the Sikh community through his writings including novels, poetry and annotation of the sacred text .
Stating that the historic buildings are linked to important personalities who had contributed to the growth of the area or had contributed to the social, economic and cultural life of the area, conservation spatial planner and member local committee, Bhai Vir singh Niwas Asthan Professor Balvinder Singh informed TOI on Friday that the though the ancestral house of Bhai Vir Singh in Katra Gaarbha Singh in the walled city had undergone drastic changes but the traditional well which was the source of water supply to Bhai Sahib and neighbours was still there in dilapidation.
“It can be restored and can be an important landmark,” he said. Bhai Vir Singh was among the principal promoters of several of Sikh institutions, such as Chief Khalsa Diwan, Sikh Educational Society (1908) and the Punjab and Sind Bank (1908).He was honored with the Sahitya Academy Award in 1955 and the Padam Bhushan Award in 1956.
Sundari was Bhai Vir Singh’s first novel of the Punjab language.He had conceived the story and written at least a portion of it while he was still in school. But the novel was published in 1898, a year after Bhai Vir Singh began Khalsa Samachar.
Balvinder said it would be a rich tribute to Padam Bhushan Dr. Bhai Vir Singh if the traditional well could be declared as a heritage memoir and effort should be made to restore its old glory which would remind new generation of the great personality.