Vinod Malhotra
Maharaja Pratap Singh (1885-1925 AD), the then ruler of J&K State decided that Jammu be educationally brought at par with Srinagar city where Sh Pratap Hindu College was already functioning. Jammu province had no Degree College (before 1905 AD) at that time.
Thus the first Degree College in Jammu province started functioning on 20.4.1907 in a building which was known as Ajaibghar (now Legislative Assembly complex in Civil Sectt) Ajaibghar was built during Maharaja Ranbir Singh rule (1856-1885 AD) for stay of Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent of Queen Victoria of England, who visited Jammu city for two days. (Later on the same Prince of Wales become ‘ King Emperor George the V of England in 1910). As such this Degree College was named as Prince of Wales College. But the starting of college in Ajaibghar was a purely temporary arrangement as Maharaja Pratap Singh had a grand vision to build a college in Jammu city which should stand out as a centre of excellence in North undivided India at that time.
After many thoughtful delebrations, a site measuring 65 acres of open land located by the side of Tawi river and Ranbir Canal was selected to develop a new campus for college. Site selection was based on three factors (a) Pedestrian proximity to core Jammu city which in those days was mostly limited in size and located on a plateau which we now call old Jammu city (b) The site should offer environmentally clean, quite and open/green atmosphere condusive for studies & spots (c) Water from Ranbir Canal could be tapped through gravity to irrigate playgrounds & other landscaped areas to upkeep its greenery (The water channel built for this purpose has since vanished under encroachment).
After finalizng the site selection, Maharaja Pratap Singh wanted a very good Architect to be engaged for designing the new campus of Prince of Wales College, The then State administration got in touch with Sirdar Sahib Ram Singh, the then Vice Principal of Mayo College of Art, Rajasthan, for help in preparing design of new college Campus in Jammu but he did’nt give any positive response (Mayo College was famous for its campus and educational standard in entire country during those days). So after an elaborate search at national level, Sir Swinton Jacob, an Englishman, who was at that time based in Jaipur city was finally selected for this job by the then State Govt Maharaja Pratap Singh himself opposed his engagement vide order No. 1445 dated 7.8.1907. Sir Jacob by qualification was a civil engineer but he had vast exerience in designing institutional buildings/cantonment areas for Britishers in India. He prepared the drawings and submitted the same to State Govt. Based on these designs, the then State Engineer estimated the total cost of proposed buildings as Rs 4.53 Lakhs. Sir Swinton Jacob was paid a professional fee & Rs 10,426 calculated @ 2½ percent of total estimated cost. The designer had proposed construction of ornamental exterior walls in clay bricks and till date these brick walls are in good condition even after 107 yrs of their construction (It speaks high of the quality of construction materials and craftmanship in appreciation of the design prepared by Sir Jacob, the State Govt felt that the cost (Rs 4.53 lakhs) required for construction of proposed buildings was high.
Meanwhile, a team comprising of three Englishmen namely AC Wooler, JCR Ewing and B Movat Jones from Punjab University (with H/Q at Lahore) visited Jammu as part of their inspection of affiliated colleges. The strength of students was just 84 No. when this team visited Prince of Wales College operating from Ajaibghar on 14.1.1910. Their final report had following recommendations in order of preferance.
(i) The team felt that Sh Pratap Hindu College already functional at Srinagar be further strengthened and made more efficient. The Committee reported that maintainence of first two grade colleges in J&K State and likely to burden the State Govt.
(ii) Permanent occupation and modification of Ajaibghar building to make it more suitable for college.
(iii) Their last and least preferance was for construction of new College Complex over 65 acre site selected by State Govt. The Committee, however, felt that in case State Govt was very keen, the new Campus should be of much smaller size. Their apprehensions were that new campus as per Sir Jacob’s design, would require a huge sum of Rs 5.38 lakhs which was difficult to be arranged by State Govt.Besides the committee felt that the construction will take 10 yrs to complete with an anticipated escalated expenditure of Rs 8.00 lakhs. In essence this committee didn’t favourably support State Govt’s plan to build a grand new campus for Prince of Wales College in Jammu city.
This report was very disturbing for Maharaja Pratap Singh who wanted a Degree College to come up in Jammu at any cost. Rubblishing the Inspection Committee’s report, the State Govt asked the then Divisional Engineer with State PWD to suitably amend the design of College complex submitted by Sir Swinton Jacob so as to reduce the total costs. The Divisional Engineer undertook this exercise and prepared revised designs. The estimated cost of construction under this design was brought down to Rs .1.21 lakhs only (In all probability the revised design reduced total floor area but perhaps didn’t alter substantially the architectural facade features of the design by Sir Swinton).
Maharaja Pratap Singh appreciated the new designs and conveyed his appreciation to Divisional Engineer Rai Sahib Saligram with a promise to reward him later at an appreciate time. The construction work of college was alloted to Mr R S Raghunanda and Mr Daulat Ram for Rs 1,15,840. (Mr Raghunandan had retired as Sub-Divisional Engineer from State Govt and had constructed a palace building at Kapurthala (Punjab) under a renowned Engineer Mr Bounden. Maharaja Pratap Singh approved the allotment of this work with remarks that entry road to campus (from Jewel Canal road) should be wide enough for two carriages to pass through atleast. He also sanctioned Rs 13,613 for entry road with profuse tree plantation.
The construction work of this college complex took about three years and Prince of Wales Degree College shifted from Aajibghar to its new campus (Now called GGM Science College) on 18.9.1912 and was affiliated to Lahore University before partition. It rose to great heights of excellence and has produced many lumanaries who have excelled in various fields of public life.
This prestigious college thus came into being through a grand vision of Maharaja Pratap Singh and is an important heritage treasure of Jammu city. Its heritage character needs to be protected at all costs and any addiction/renovation within this complex should be undertaken very sensitively and carefully under a well thoughtout Master Plan which should lay priority on its conservation and green landscape. Unfortunately, the college campus at present is facing severe problems because of a) frequent flooding within it on account of overflowing garbage-laden Jewel nallah during rains b) misuse of front old hockey & cricket grounds under parking and c) addition of new buildings in an unintegrated, disjointed and piecemeal manner and without any matching architectural façade control in line with old heritage structures etc. These need to be addressed urgently by the authorities concerned.
(Information given in this article has been collected from the original files, pertaining to Maharaja Pratap Singh’s rule period, lying in J&K Archives Deptt. The writer is thankful to Archives Deptt for providing access to them)
(The author is former Development Commissioner, Town Planning J&K Government)
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