President A P J Abdul Kalam shall dedicate to the nation the Chandigarh War Memorial, a citizens’ initiative led by The Indian Express, here at 10.15 am tomorrow.

Officers from the Army, Navy and the Air Force, war heroes, government officials, relatives of martyrs, and captains of industry will attend the ceremony. Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gen S F Rodrigues (Retd), Haryana Governor A R Kidwai, Himachal Governor V S Kokje, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, Punjab Deputy CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal,

GOC-in-C, Western Command, Lt Gen Daljeet Singh, and AOC-in-C Western Air Command, Air Marshal A K Singh, are among those who will be present.

Former UT Administrator Lt Gen J F R Jacob (Retd), who had laid the foundation stone of the memorial, is a special invitee. He will address the gathering. Vinita Rai, former adviser to the UT Administrator, will also be present.

Along with war heroes from the region, 50 widows of soldiers who died in action have been specially invited for the function. The memorial was designed by students of the Chandigarh College of Architecture and has been constructed at a cost of Rs 70 lakh, donated by people from all walks of life and corporate houses. The memorial is semi-circular and has a 22-foot central sculpture. The names of some 8,500 martyrs from the region have been engraved on its granite plaques.

The ground-breaking ceremony had been performed by the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, Gen S F Rodrigues (Retd) on June 11, 2005.