Gurmeet Rai, the noted conservation architect and founder of CCRI ,who conceptualised both circuits, and has bagged the Destination Amritsar project, rubs off some of her enthusiasm on you as she takes you on a whirlwind tour on a map.

The freedom trail takes you from the princely kingdom of Nabha, ruled by Maharaja Ripudaman Singh, who was exiled by the British for supporting the independence movement, to the Sunam house of Shahid Udham Singh who shot dead Gen Michael O Dwyer in London. “You also get to visit the house of his nephew at Khatkar Kalan, but not before you’ve bowed your head at the grave of Nawab Sher Mohammed Khan of Malerkotla, the only town in Punjab that remained untouched by the Partition madness, explored the house of Lala Lajpat Rai at Jagraon and seen the obelisks the British built in memory of their soldiers who died in the Anglo-Sikh wars,” says Rai.

The tourism department has already begun work on restoring the monuments after inviting bids for private partnership.

To spice up the hospitality quotient, the tourism department has signed an MoU with the Neemrana group of hotels for the Rajindra Kothi in Patiala, once home to the royal family of Patiala. It’s also set its sights on converting at least four palaces as heritage resorts, a la Rajasthan. The restoration work on six forts — the Army agreed to return the Bahadurgarh fort to the state in October on the PM’s intervention — will complete the royal picture.

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