Lucknow: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally in Bareilly last week that he remembered the city since his childhood because he heard that someone had lost her jhumka here, Bareilly has decided to immortalise the ornament.
Mr Shashank Vikram Singh, vice-chairman of the Bareilly Development Authority (BDA), told reporters that he had decided to set up a massive replica of a jhumka at the Delapeer trisection as a tribute to the song from the 1966 film Mera Saaya that made the city so famous. The roads and area around this trisection will also be developed and beautified accordingly.
A sum of Rs 6.5 crore has been earmarked for this which includes the cost of the jhumka, as well. The jhumka would be 14 metres in diameter and it is yet undecided whether it would be cast in concrete or metal. “The popularity of the song Bareilly ki bazaar mein jhumka gire re... remains undiminished even after 50 years. In fact, this is the 50th year of the film and the song that was sung by Asha Bhonsle and filmed on Sadhana, who passed away recently. This is the perfect time to pay a tribute to the jhumka,” he said.
Tourists who come to Bareilly that is also famous for its cane furniture, surma (kohl), zari embroidery and manjhaa (kite string), look for a landmark that is associated with the jhumka song. The BDA has asked the local people to submit designs of the jhumka and the person whose design is finally selected will get a cash prize of '25,000.
