Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh today wrote to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, asking him not to create new war memorials if his government could not take care of the existing ones.
The letter came a day after Amarinder personally picked up a brush to clean the "neglected statue" of Naib Subedar Nand Singh in Bathinda, where he had gone to pay homage to the valiant soldier during his Kisan Yatra roadshow.
It also comes just three days ahead of the scheduled inauguration of the Punjab State War Heroes Memorial and Museum by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in Amritsar.
In his letter, Amarinder complained of the "dismal condition" of the statue of India's most decorated soldier Naib Subedar Nand Singh.
He urged Badal to hand over the memorial's upkeep and maintenance, as well as that of the statues of other decorated soldiers of the country, to the Indian Army if the administration was not capable of handling the task.
The statue of Nand Singh, India's most decorated soldier, lies in a state of utter neglect amid filthy surroundings, he said. Pained to see its pitiable condition, Captain Amarinder took it upon himself to clean the statue but also directed party district leaders and workers to beautify the surroundings.
"Make sure that the statue is restored to the glory it deserves," he asked them.
In his letter to the chief minister, Amarinder said "there is no point in setting up more war memorials if we can't maintain the existing ones."
He pointed out that during his tenure as Chief Minister (2002-07), the Congress government had made a provision in the state budget for the maintenance of memorials through the Sainik Welfare Board.
"Unfortunately, the funds lie unutilized even while the memorials of our war heroes lie in a state of utter neglect," he noted.
The Punjab Congress leader claimed the statue of Naib Subedar Nand Singh was just one of the many memorials in the state requiring urgent attention to protect them from further damage. Statues of many decorated war heroes lie in a state of total negligence all over the state, he said in his letter.
"The least we can do is to nurture and preserve the memory of these soldiers and give their memorials the respect they deserve," he said, urging the chief minister to direct the respective local administration in each area to take on the task of the maintenance and upkeep of the memorials on priority basis.
"If, however, the administration is not equipped to handle the task, I would suggest that the upkeep of these statues be handed over to the Indian Army, which, I am sure, will not fail the memory of these heroes," said Captain Amarinder.
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