Amritsar: Amritsar's Gobindgarh Fort, built in 1760 and associated with the Sikh warrior king Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was Monday formally handed over by the army authorities to the civil administration here.

The fort was in the army's possession from the British times for nearly 150 years.

The British authorities had put the fort under the army possession in 1849. The fort had been named after the 10th Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had handed over the symbolic keys of the fort in September 2006 to then Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, the fort remained with the Panther division of the army.

The formal handing over of the historic premises was done by Major General P.S. Paul who handed over the place to Amritsar deputy commissioner K.S. Pannu.

A portion of the fort would still continue to be with the army for its use and public will not have any access to this portion.

The Punjab government Monday announced it planned to convert the fort into a national monument and promote it for tourism purposes.

An amount of Rs.25 million has already been sanctioned by the state government for renovation of the fort.

The major portion of the fort will now be accessible to people.

 

Source : ians