Jorhat, Oct. 14: Prison cells across Assam, where renowned freedom fighters had been lodged, will be renovated and preserved as sites of historical import, Dispur has decided.

Assam minister for social welfare and prisons, Akon Bora, told The Telegraph here today that his department has asked the authorities of all the 35 jails in the state to find out whether renowned freedom fighters were lodged in their cells during the Independence movement.

He said prison authorities have been asked to check all old records and identify the cells where the freedom fighters had been lodged.

“I have asked the officials to take the help of local freedom fighters’ associations for collecting such information and to prepare a brief note on each freedom fighter,” Bora said.

The minister said the government would allocate funds for repair and renovation of such cells, which will not be used for accommodating ordinary inmates.

“The new generation should learn about the sacrifices made by our ancestors,” the minister said.

Bora, who earlier in the day paid a surprise visit to the Central Jail, Jorhat, said he had instructed the jail officials and the accompanying Jorhat deputy commissioner, R.C. Jain, to get a plan prepared for repairing and renovating the cell where late Pitambar Devagoswami, a freedom fighter, was imprisoned.i

Devagoswami, who was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi and the xatradhikar of the Garmur Xatra in Majuli was jailed for over two years in Jorhat jail during the Independence movement.

A few years back, the state government had named the auditorium of Jorhat District Library after Devagoswami.

The minister said the cell where freedom fighter Kushal Konwar was lodged in Jorhat jail before his hanging has been preserved with nameplate and a brief note on the martyr.

During his visit to the Tezpur Central Jail, Bora asked the authorities to make similar proposals for four cells where noted freedom fighters had been lodged.

Bora also made a surprise visit to Jorhat Central Jail after receiving a complaint from a prisoner regarding irregularity in providing food to the inmates.

He has asked the jail superintendent to remove assistant jailor Kumud Ranjan Bora from the responsibility of managing inmates’ food.

The prisoner had complained that the jail rule of providing non-vegetarian food twice a week was not being followed.

Instead, non-vegetarian food was available only a few times a month.

The minister said he visited the gallows and taken stock of the preparations for a possible hanging.

Death row prisoner Mahendra Nath Das has been lodged in the jail since May 27 this year, with his hanging being stayed by Gauhati High Court till November 1.