Sir Ganga Ram Agarwal was the father of modern Lahore. A financially rich man, an architect, designer and manager par excellence. His works stand tall even today in Lahore and each monument speaks for his meticulousness and eye for detail. The author, who is an avid traveller, visits his monuments and landmark buildings in Lahore and chronicles his contribution.

Of Sir Ganga Ram, none more compelling is than the story ‘The Garland’ Sadat Manto had written of about the Statue of Sir Ganga Ram that once stood near the side of the Lahore Museum. In the frenzy of hatred of 1947 mobs were ransacking it as a riotous mob was seen stoning the statue of Sir Ganga Ram on a public square in Lahore. A rioter climbed up the pedestal and was seen putting a garland of shoes around the statue’s neck. The police who arrived at the scene, opened fire and some of the miscreants were injured. One among them was the man who had climbed up the pedestal to garland the statue with the garland of shoes. Someone in the riotous mob shouted: “Take him to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital”.

“Ganga Ram used to say the problem of India is the problem of water. He designed Lift irrigation by which water was lifted to irrigate fallow lands and turn them into green fields by steam power.”

That in essence told the story of this visionary whose contribution, except the statue that no longer exists, of several notable ones in Lahore standing today from the Raj era have his stamp. The magnificent building of Lahore Museum, the Anglican Church, the Mayo School of Arts, the General Post Office, Aitchison College, Punjab High Court, and Ganga Ram Hospital, Victor wing of the Lahore Mayo Hospital and the Government College Chemical Laboratory are his legacies. Look everywhere and his signature buildings are visible. He was the father of modern Lahore.

He was born in 1851 to Lala Daulat Ram, a sub-inspector of a family that had travelled to Punjab from United Provinces in search of livelihood. At Mangatanwala, in Nankana Sahib District, under the quiet shadows of a Gurdwara , the baby Ganga Ram was born. Schooling in Amritsar, student days in Government College Lahore and then to Roorkee for engineering college, led in 1873 to his first assignment to in Delhi to assist in building an amphitheatre. In 1877 he was brought in for planning in the construction of railway line from Amritsar to Pathankot.

He travelled to Bradford, England for training in the water works and drainage construction. On return his golden years in Lahore began where all the buildings mentioned above were designed and engineered. He received the title of Rai Bahadur in 1903, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) on 26 June 1903 for his services at the Delhi Durbar. He was knighted in the 1922 Birthday Honours list, and on 8 July the same year was personally invested with his honour at Buckingham Palace by the King-Emperor George V.

““Anokha ….the unusual” was indeed this great philanthropist who created wealth and to his last used the wealth for the people of the Punjab where he made his millions. ”

In 1903 at the age of 52 he retired with a grant of twenty squares of land. It was soon after that he was called to re-design Patiala by the Maharajah and he changed the entire capital. Moti Bagh Palace, the Secretariat Buildings, the Victoria Girls High School, the City High School, the Law Courts the Ijlas-i-khas all bore stamp of his handiwork.

With Imperial Durbar of 1911 on the anvil, the Maharajah of Patiala prevailed upon him to be special advisor to the Indian Chief’s Camp.

Ganga Ram used to say the problem of India is the problem of water. He designed Lift irrigation by which water was lifted to irrigate fallow lands and turn them into green fields by steam power. So began his dream project in a village he named Gangapur that to date lasts in Lyallpur District in its original name. He introduced modern agricultural machinery on the lands allotted to him.

Gangapur was the first farm to introduce a mechanical reaper, riggers, harrows, scythes, sprays and new type of gardening instruments were among the many modern designed and improved tools used. He reaped rewards monetarily as the farm outputs increased manifold due to his latest technological adaptations been used on farmlands.

It was in 1923 that he set up Sir Ganga Ram Trust to organise and control his charities that included amongst others a Widows home. Two years earlier in the famous area of Wachhowali he purchased land for constructing Sir Ganga Ram Charity Dispensary.

Later he set up a commerce institution for young students to learn intricacies of money making and managing by setting up Hailey College of Commerce. Later educational institute for women, by donating his personal home in Lahore for the purpose, was set up but he died before it became operational. He also constructed a charitable Hindu Apahaj Ashram for the old, the neglected and the disabled.

He died in his London home on 10th July 1927. There still exists in Gangapur his haveli that few visit and know of. About Gangapur agricultural project, Sir Edward Douglas McLagan, the then Punjab governor, specially visited the farm in 1920 and termed it “a miracle and skillfully developed village of the subcontinent by an individual”. His legacy to the local people is a mini railway track from Buchiana to Gangapur (around 2 miles stretch) on which plies the Horse Tram, popularly known as Ghora Train and ‘Anokhi Sawari .’

“Anokha ….the unusual” was indeed this great philanthropist who created wealth and to his last used the wealth for the people of the Punjab where he made his millions. His samadhi exists till today in Lahore. The hospital in Lahore continues to treat people.

After partition,the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allotted land to the Sir Ganga Ram Trust, which was set up in 1951 and started operations in 1954. The Sir Ganga Ram multi-speciality hospital in New Delhi is another reminder of the gigantic personality and contribution of Sir Ganga Ram.

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Do we have a modern day Ganga Ram working so zealously for Punjab and Punjabis on either side of the Radcliffe line?