Jorhat, Jan. 6: Parks are said to be a city's lungs. They are often beautified with statues, fountains and busts to add to their aesthetic appeal. But the ones here are stained and grime-coated, with rubbish strewn around, more popular with tipplers than morning walkers. Even Millennium Park, once Jorhat's pride, is littered with empty liquor bottles.
The Mahapurush Madhavdev Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) here, has decided to clean the parks and the busts, one by one. For the members of the organisation, this is not just a Swachch Bharat initiative but a labour of love to rekindle the memories of those who made Jorhat what it is today.
In a meeting held in the ill-maintained Millenium Park today, freedom fighter Prasanna Goswami said that these were not just parks and inanimate objects but their heritage.
"The other day, at the behest of Jorhat MLA Rana Goswami, I had laid the foundation stone for the setting up of a statue of Bhupen Hazarika near Bhogdoi on the eastern side of the town. Eleven years ago, at the initiative of the then education minister Hem Chandra Narayan, with much fanfare, I had laid the foundation for two bases on which the busts of martyrs Maniram Dewan and Piyali Barua were to be placed. Whether any of these will materialise, only time will tell and if they do materialise, will this be the condition of the busts," Goswami said pointing to the grime-covered structure which highlights the Millennium Park.
Praising the NGO for taking up the task of cleaning up the places, Goswami said that neglecting monuments and statues showed how much the people had fallen as human beings and this was a neglect of what could be considered our tradition# and inheritance.
Referring to the Millenium Park, which had been set up at the busy Baruah Chariali during the time of the AGP government in 2000, Goswami said that this did not mean that the present government had no responsibility in the upkeep the park.
Goswami further said that Jorhat, which boasted to be the intellectual capital of the state, was the worst when it came to remembering or honouring those who had made and developed the town.
"Today the hard work of Debeswar Sarmah in setting up the Regional Research Laboratory (now North East Institute of Science and Technology), the Bhogdoi bridge and the Civil hospital is long forgotten. Neither is Kuladhar Chaliha's sacrifices nor Rohini Hatibaruah's and Nilamoni Phukan's contributions are remembered. We, in Jorhat, shamelessly run after power and pelf, forgetting that what we are today is because of people like them and others like Maniram Dewan, Piyali Barua, Piyali Phukan," he said.
Founder of the foundation Ratul Baruah said Millennium Park had become a den of vices at night with bottles littered around. Goswami suggested that the Jorhat Municipal Board should be asked to clean the place.
Others at the meet mentioned the names of Tarun Ram Phukan and Bahadur Gaon Burah who had given Jorhat its exalted place in the state.
The other places which the Foundation had taken up to clean up were the busts of educationists Nilamoni Phukan, which is standing neglected in the middle of a vegetable garden by the side of Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB), the bust of Krishna Sharma - who had opened the doors of his naamghar to harijans and faced ostracism by his own community - that stands in G. Anesh Gogoi Papori park and the bust of Kuladhar Chaliha - Assam's first Congress president - near a vegetable market, which is covered by gunny sacks of the vendors during the day and has become defaced.
Baruah said the Foundation had taken permission from the deputy commissioner's office to take care of these parks and would soon start work.
