Row over construction of clock tower at Gandhi statue site in Doomdooma; Assam CM reacts

Doomdooma, July 12: A big controversy is doing the rounds in the greater Doomdooma area and on social media for the last few days over the construction of a clock tower near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi situated at the heart of Doomdooma town.

The Doomdooma Town Committee (now Doomdooma Municipal Board) set up a five-feet tall marble statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the heart of Doomdooma town during the late 50s of the last century. Since then it has become a popular landmark of the town. But, recently, the Doomdooma Municipal Board (DMB) has taken up a town beautification scheme and according to it, a clock tower will be built at the site of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and under the tower, the statue will be reinstalled.

Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baruah laid the foundation stone of the project before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, but the work was not started. When the contractor began the work a couple of days ago, former MLA of Doomdooma and Congress leader Durga Bhumij along with some Congressmen arrived at the site. and opposed the removal of the statue of Gandhi and building a clock tower there.

Later, Bhumij convened a press conference at the Rajiv Bhawan here and alleged that the BJP never paid due respect to Gandhi. Instead, it always gave respect to Nathuram Godse, the assassinator of Mahatma Gandhi. At a time when Gandhi's statue was set up in as many as 80 countries around the world, DMB is going to build a clock tower by removing the statue of the Father of the Nation. The DMB should take the opinion of the public before taking this scheme, he said. When a few Congress workers had gone to the DMB office to see the Detailed Project Report, the DMB officials failed to show them the same, Bhumij alleged.

Meanwhile, present MLA Rupesh Gowala, said an amount has been kept separately for the installation of the statue. The old statue was five feet tall, but the new statue will be taller than the old one, Gowala added. "It will take around five to six months to complete the entire project. After that people will get the complete picture," Gowala further said.

Reacting to this issue, the general secretary of Tinsukia district unit of AASU Pratim Neog said that the DMB must reinstall the Gandhi statue at its original place. He also demanded that instead of building a clock tower, the DMB must construct a Swahid Bedi along with the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

However, amid this controversy, the construction work of the clock tower is going on in full swing. The statue of Gandhi had already been removed and taken to the DMB office campus.

After the news circulated, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reacted to the matter saying he wasn’t aware of the decision taken by the district administration.

He said, “Let me verify the facts. Assam owes so much to Mahatma Gandhi. He stood firmly with Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi when the Congress party led by Nehru wanted to include Assam in Pakistan under the Grouping Plan.”