Gone with the wind: Hoisted at 170ft, Tricolour ‘disappears’ for 14th time
AMRITSAR: Keeping the nation’s flag flying high has proved to be quite a challenge for the administration and the Amritsar Improvement Trust.
Over the past two years, 14 national flags have either been damaged or blown away at a height of 170-foot at Amrit Anand Park, adjoining the national highway 1.
The latest flag to hoisted on August 14 this year has lasted only two weeks.
To date, the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) that is responsible for the hoisting and the maintenance of the flag at the location has spent around Rs 10 lakh. Each flag has an area of around 2,400 square feet (60 feet length and 40 feet breadth). When flying, the flag is visible from a distance of 60km.
WHAT CAUSES THE DAMAGE
Even as the AIT has not deputed a team of experts to maintain the flag or study the reasons for the damage, HT has compiled a list of reasons after talking to experts. Strong winds at that altitude, the fabric unable to stand the weather, the high levels of pollution and continuous rain are the factors that have battered the Tricolour.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Officers with the AIT told HT that for a flag to be hoisted at 170-ft, its material needed to tough and wind-resistant. They claim that AIT chairmans the past had written to the Flag Company of India to give it flags made of such a material. A demand has also been made to hoist the flag each morning and lower it with the last light of the day by guards, who will also be responsible for its upkeep.
“This will not honour the Flag Code, but also save the fabric from damage and increase its life,” an official said.
DC WANTS MINISTRY TO LOOK INTO MATTER
Notably, Amritsar deputy commissioner (DC) Kamaldeep Singh Sangha who had written to the state home department and the local bodies’ ministry to look into the matter is very clear that hoisting should be done after a solution is taken out as regular damage of Tricolor is not only causing embarrassment but also AIT has incurred huge expenses in case of both the flags
MP Gurjit Singh Aujla told that he would be taking up the matter with Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
“I will bring the issue to the notice of the local administration. Perhaps reducing the height of the flag will help. We also need a wind-resistant material,” he added.
The country’s tallest Tricolour, at 360-ft, near the India-Pakistan border at Attari, is also prone to frequent damage and its pole is now not hoisted.