Putting in her­culean ef­forts in gar­ner­ing sup­port from the Sikh fam­ily res­i­dents of Pun­jabi Lane Shil­long, fund­ing from far and wide, the be­lea­guered Sikhs of Shil­long, even though liv­ing on the edge for the last many years, have man­aged to build a grand Gur­d­wara Sahib amidst their habi­tat, com­plete in all re­spects from the Sikh point of view. The World Sikh News team will be pre­sent at the in­au­gu­ra­tion.

In the ex­alted pres­ence of Sikh lead­ers Sant Baba Av­tar Singh Ji, Mukhi, Sam­parda Dal Baba Bidhi Chand Ji, Sur Singh wale and Baba Ma­jor Singh Ji Sodhi, Jathedar, Dashmesh Tarna Dal, Am­rit­sar, Bhag­want Singh Sialka, in­charge Le­gal Af­fairs, Shi­ro­mani Gur­d­wara Pra­band­hak Com­mit­tee, Am­rit­sar and Jagdeep Singh Kahllon, Gen­eral Sec­re­tary, Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee and many other dig­ni­taries from far and wide and Singh san­gat from As­sam and Pun­jabt, the ren­o­vated holy premises in­clud­ing the sanc­tum sanc­to­rum will be in­au­gu­rated on the morn­ing of 22 Jan­u­ary which will be fol­lowed by re­li­gious and so­cial pro­grammes.

De­spite be­ing un­der ex­treme pres­sure of be­ing thrown out of their home and hearth for the last many decades, the Sikhs of Pun­jabi lane Shil­long have built and ren­o­vated the his­tor­i­cal Gur­d­wara amidst their habi­tat.

Ac­cord­ing to Sikh his­to­rian, lex­i­cog­ra­pher, writer of Ma­han Kosh –The Sikh En­cy­clopae­dia, “The Sikh Gur­d­wara is a Cen­tre of learn­ing for stu­dents, Preacher for Seek­ers of spir­i­tual knowl­edge, hos­pi­tal for the sick, store­house of food for the hun­gry, iron fortress for pro­tect­ing the ch­a­sity of women and rest­ing place for the pil­grims.

His­tor­i­cal records men­tion that the Gur­d­wara Sahib was es­tab­lished by the Sikh brigade of the British In­dian Army in 1861 or even be­fore that time.

Nev­er­the­less, it is his­toric as hun­dreds of hard work­ing Sikhs made the place their home nearly two cen­turies ago.

Em­i­nent Ragis, Kav­ishar and Kathavachaks -Bhai Sukhjeet Singh Ko­harka, Hazuri Ragi Dar­bar Sahib, Am­rit­sar, Bhai Shokeen Singh, Hazuri Ragi Dar­bar Sahib, Am­rit­sar, Bhai Joga Singh Bhagowal Kav­ishar, Bhai Varyam Singh Katha Vachak, Gur­d­wara Manji Sahib, Am­rit­sar, Bhai Shamsher Singh Mis­arpura Dhadi Jatha, Bhai Am­rit­pal Singh Katha Vachak, Mum­bai will ren­der Gur­bani Kir­tan and teach­ings of Guru Sahib.

Hun­dreds of Sikhs will march from Guwa­hati to Shil­long to par­tic­i­pate in the his­toric func­tion.

Speak­ing to re­porters, Gur­jeet Singh, the shee­tan­chor of the gi­gan­tic pro­ject said, “It will be a his­toric day for us and the Sikh com­mu­nity. Build­ing a Guru Ghar -the Gu­ru’s Abode is a dream of every Sikh and we are grate­ful to all Sikh in­di­vid­u­als and or­gan­i­sa­tions who have made this pos­si­ble.

A Tur­ban Ty­ing Com­pe­ti­tion, Am­rit San­char and tra­di­tional Rein Sabai Kir­tan will be held with ac­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion of young Sikh boys and girls. The lo­cal pop­u­la­tion has also been in­vited.

Guru Ka Lan­gar will be served through­out the day.