A colonial-era rest house that is one of the last vestiges of the history of Gurha Uttam Singh has been abandoned by the Jhelum district administration just a month after its renovation.

Gurha Uttam Singh is a village in the foothills of the Salt Range, 55 kilometres east of Chakwal city. Located at the border of the Chakwal and Jhelum districts in Sohawa tehsil, it was a predominantly Sikh area founded around five centuries ago by Uttam Singh.

The Gurha Uttam Singh Rest House was built by the British in their customary colonial style. Rest houses and dak bungalows were built at a distance of 10 to 15 miles at elevated points in every district, to facilitate officials visiting those areas.

Most of these buildings are now dilapidated, but a few – such as the one in Gurha Uttam Singh – remain.

Although villagers claim the rest house was built during the reign of Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century, Jhelum gazetteers suggest that the rest house was built between 1883 and 1904, as the 1883 gazetteer does not include the rest house in the list of rest houses in Jhelum district, but the one from 1904 does.

“The British used to construct buildings with local stone. The rest house in the neighbouring village of Ara was built with the limestone found in the area, but the rest house in Gurah Uttam Singh was built with sandstone, as it was in abundance in this area,” explained Professor Sada Hussain, who teaches English at the Government Postgraduate College Chalwal and frequently visits interesting sites in the Salt Range.

The 1904 District Gazetteer of Jhelum describes the rest house as having a large room measuring 16x16, a smaller room, two bathrooms and three verandas. The current structure is missing one of the verandas, which was turned into a room in the later years.

Like the well-maintained rest house in Khewra, the Gurha Uttam Singh rest house also contains another building a few feet behind the main building, which houses a kitchen, two store rooms and a stable to accommodate a visitor’s horse.

Prof Hussain explained that arches – as found in the Gurha Uttam Singh rest house – are a key part of colonial architecture, because they “not only provide strength to the buildings but are also impressive”.

The building also contains intricate masonry work, such as waterspouts shaped like lions on the eastern wall.

The rest house, which lacks a boundary wall, was renovated in April this year and was abandoned barely a month later. There is no one looking after the rest house, which can accommodate six guests in three bedrooms, and the building has been locked.

When contacted, Jhelum Deputy Commissioner Abdul Sattar Isani said he would look into the lack of anyone employed to look after the building.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018