Besides, one also needs to think about the heritage factor, he said.

“The first aeroplane ever to land in the Northeast did so at the Gymkhana grounds in 1928, when Bernard Leete, the owner-pilot of the plane, came to Jorhat at the request of A.C. Tunstel, then director of the Tocklai experimental station. Tunstel wanted to take his ailing wife to Calcutta for treatment. It was also at the club grounds that the first jeep was displayed after being brought to Assam in 1945,” he said.

Manoj Goswami, a senior ASEB official, said there was no intention of causing harm to the Gymkhana club course but the board was helpless.

“Laying of the new power cables will improve the power scenario of Jorhat town. The cables are being laid in the greater interest of people,” he said. The chief minister wants the power scenario in Jorhat to improve and this project was under his direction, he added.