Alappuzha’s Taj Mahal gets defaced by National Highway expansion

Alappuzha: Shah Jahan may have immortalized his love for Mumtaz by building the Taj Mahal which remains in good shape through centuries. But in Kerala, a Taj Mahal built by a war veteran to honour fallen soldiers is facing the axe.

For over a decade, the Taj Mahal in Alappuzha has caused curiosity in people who pass the Tumboli Junction on the national highway. AKB Kumar, an ex-Naval officer, constructed the ‘Global Peace Palace’ on the model of the Taj as a monument for war heroes, all on his own.

But road expansion work by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has resulted in a portion of the monument modelled on the iconic Taj Mahal being demolished, to the shock of the people of the locality and visitors.

'Global Peace Palace'
The Taj Mahal in Alappuzha was inaugurated by then chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, in 2011, three years after the construction began.

“The 1971 Indo-Pak war that led to the liberation of Bangladesh broke out when I was serving in Visakhapatnam in the Eastern sector. I even took part in the battle against the then East Pakistan. I had two close friends in the Navy, one Venugopal, and one Scaria, both hailing from Kerala. I first met them during the training days in the Navy,” 72-year-old Kumar said.

The Pakistani army then destroyed the Indian submarine Khukri off the Karachi coast. “Unfortunately, among the dead were my dear friends Venugopal and Scaria. It was then that I first decided that I would construct some kind of a monument for all such martyrs,” he walked down the memory lane.

Kumar retired from the Navy in 1985 and then got a job in the Cochin Refineries, from where he retired as Acting Engineer of the Fire & Safety wing in 2011. Now that he had the resources, he started reconstructing his house at his ancestral property at Tumboli for Rs 80 lakhs.

“Being a Hindu, why did you opt for constructing a Taj Mahal (Persian construction) modelled building? This is the question that everyone asks me. Here’s the answer. By chance, I visited the original Taj Mahal, and the image was stuck in my mind. There are four minars for the wonder building. I too want to pay my respect to the martyrs of the Navy, Army, Air Force, and other forces (BSF etc). I decided to build the monument in the Taj Mahal model, with each minar representing each service. The construction with marbles and tiles was very difficult and it took three years for the work to get completed,” Kumar said.

But with the authorities acquiring five out of the 17 cents on which the Taj Mahal stands, two of its minars are being demolished.

“This was the last structure in the region to be hit by the demolition drive. We will lose the front portion,” Kumar said.

But the war veteran is determined to restore the monument by reconstructing the two minars at the front. “I’m badly hurt by the monument losing its face. But I will restore the structure to the shape by constructing the additional two minars too after the NH work here gets over.” He seemed determined.

In between Kumar has made eight films — Big Salute, College Cuties, God’s Own Players, Challenger, Amar Mera Dost, Eye Witness, Burning Ghost, and Khandassa. He has also written four English novels.