Govt to celebrate year-long Shahid Shatabdi Varsh

New Delhi: The Government of India is going to celebrate a yearlong programme "Shahid Shatabdi Varsh" from April 13, 2019 to April, 2020 to observe the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh massacre incident nation-wide.

The Union Ministry of Culture gave its nod on Thursday to the proposal by a Rajya Sabha from Punjab, Shwait Malik, a Bharatiya Janata Party, MP. Union Minister Mahesh Sharma also notified on the floor of the House.

The programme aims to make youth more aware of the historically significant event of the 1919 in Punjab, by involving themselves. The programme will start by revamping the historic Bagh and the Ministry has assured that the work would be finished before 2019, sources said. According to sources, the Centre would also allocate a special budget for the renovation work.

A narration of the massacre would be shown through 4-D audio, along with a spectacular show of light and sound with a voice-over by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Apart from that reading material of the historic event would be made available to the visitors at the memorial. An air conditioned gallery would also be established for the visitors.

In 2013, a programme to highlight the historic event was started by a Trustee with members including Congress MPs - HS Hanspal, Ambika Soni and Virendra Kataria.

However, due to some technical snags, both 52-minute light and sound programme and an 18-minute documentary were discontinued some months after its installation.

It is hoped that it would be revived under the proposed plan, the proposer and BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Shwait Malik added.