Ministry of culture to make major changes in Jallianwala Bagh memorial trust

AMRITSAR : After nominating new members for the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust (JBNMT), the Union ministry of cultural affairs is likely to make major changes in the trust, including replacing its secretary, according to a RTI activist.
RTI activist and advocate P C Sharma informed TOI on Thursday that, in response to his questions regarding replacement of the secretary of JBNMT, the ministry replied that the government is considering reconstruction of the trust.
In the recent past, the Union culture ministry had nominated former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, ex-MP and former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities Tarlochan Singh and state BJP president Shwait Malik as new trustees of JBNMT.
While alleging misappropriation and siphoning off the funds of JBNMT, Sharma said in the past he had also filed a complaint in this regard with the ministry, following which the government had asked JBNMT to furnish its account books .
“Government is going to observe the centenary of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and lots of funds would be provided to JBNMT which calls for transparency. I am told that a meeting of trustees would be held in near future,” said Sharma.
The culture ministry had already been notified to observe the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at a national level. Sharma, in a complaint to the ministry, questioned why secretaries of the JBNMT should always hail from the Mukherjee family.
S C Mukherjee, grandfather of current secretary S K Mukherjee, who hailed from Das Ghara village of Hoogli district in West Bengal, was appointed secretary in 1919. He remained on the post till 1961. Following his demise, his son U N Mukherjee was appointed the secretary who remained secretary from 1961 to 1988. Later his son S K Mukherjee resigned from his bank job and joined as the secretary of JBNMT.