Faridkot
What could be a unique initiative to conceptualize and construct the first wooden Gurdwara Sahib in police lines Fazilka, a border district,all the credit goes to the hundreds of the devotees of the Guru Ghar besides then SSP Fazilka, Bhupinder Singh Sidhu.
Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, who took over as SSP Fazilka in April, noticed that there was no Gurdwara Sahib in police lines where the police personnel stay along with their families.It was non-existent so far unless he took over.
“Actually, almost all the police lines in the state have religious places like Gurdwaras where the families of the policemen stay along with their families. Besides the police personnels, even the locals also visit the Gurdwaras in police lines to seek blessings of the almighty,” said Bhupinder Singh Sidhu,SSP Malerkotla, who was the SSP Fazilka when the construction of the Gurdwara was started.
About the concept, Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said,'' I saw such a hut type Gurdwara Sahib somewhere in a hill state and dreamt of materializing it. So when I took over as SSP Fazilka, I saw that there was no Gurdwara Sahib in the police lines of Fazilka. I contacted one of my friends who was in the business of the construction of wooden houses in hill states besides some other wooden structures. He assured me that Gurdwara Sahib could be constructed by using a special kind of wood and we started working on it.”
Initially it was supposed to be completed in two months, but later on , it took about four months for its competition.
Thanks to the almighty God, the help continued to pour in from all quarters of society.
“We first imported a special kind of wood from Finland, which is resistant to termite and it is further treated so that its endurance could be made more and more longer. Although the common wood in Finland is very prone to the attacks of termite, yet this particular kind of wood is resistant to the termite attack,” said Bhupinder Singh, now posted as SSP Malerkotla.
With all kinds of financial help from friends from abroad, including the locals, police personnel and others, people from all walks of life, irrespective of religions and other social boundaries, help continued to pour in.
"I requested everyone that the donation should be within his limits, as low as Rs 11 without any problem, " said Bhupinder Singh Sidhu speaking about the donations of his staff.
“Even my family members, my two sons, one of them is post graduate in law and the younger one is an engineering student donated for its construction from their pocket money and Gurdwara sahib was completed in about four months,” said Bhupinder Singh Sidhu,SSP Malerkotla.
The Gurdwara Sahib is constructed on about two kanals of land on the premises of the police lines and has facilities of Langar Hall and residence of Granthi Singh.
Even the landscaping of the religious place was done corresponding to the spiritual message and waves of the Gurdwara sahib.
“We even planned what kind of the brick laying design for the pavement and surroundings of the Gurdwara Sahib should be and everything was done in a pattern and symmetry matching to the religious place. Just one day before I had to leave the station after my transfer, we made the Prakash of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in it to seek the blessings of our great Guru in presence of all the senior police and other officials besides police personnel and public,” said Bhupinder Singh Sidhu,SSP Malerkotla.
“All the credit for the construction of the unique kind of wooden Gurdwara Sahib goes to my predecessor Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, then SSP Fazilka. When I took over, it was almost complete and now I have my responsibility to look after it.You should better contact Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, said Avneet Kaur Sidhu, who is not SSP Fazilka, when contacted by Punjab Tribune.
Avneet Kaur Sidhu had shared information about this unique initiative in a tweet some days before.