MANGALDAI, Jan 31 - The Darrang district administration yesterday ordered a halt in the ongoing construction at the site of the multi-crore project of the historic Pathorughat peasants� uprising, after the site was damaged due to the alleged negligence and callous attitude of a few PWD officials.
The incident came to the fore following widespread public resentment after an excavator of the contractor on Tuesday demolished the unprotected graveyard where bodies of 140 peasant martyrs were believed to have been buried by the British rulers in an attempt to wipe out any evidence.
Darrang Additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Chakravarty issued an order late Wednesday afternoon wherein he directed cordoning off the area and also prohibited any further construction close to it. However, construction work in the others areas will continue.
�On the direction of the Deputy Commissioner, an inquiry will be carried out and till its completion, an order has been issued to the Circle Officer, Pathorughat Revenue Circle to cordon off the area. However, work in other areas will not be affected,� Chakravarty said.
On Wednesday, a delegation of the local scribes� body, Mangaldai Media Circle, met Deputy Commissioner Ghanashyam Dass and requested his intervention in the issue.
ADC Chakravarty urgently called a meeting of officials of the two implementing government agencies � PWD (Building), Mangaldai subdivision, and Mangaldai Agriculture Engineering Division � where technical issues were discussed.
The PWD has been working on development of the field, boundary wall and guard wall at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore.
At the beginning of the construction work, people of the locality and members of the Mangaldai Media Circle had requested the district administration to preserve the graveyard at any cost under the provisions of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904. But to the surprise and embarrassment of all officials, the contractor and labourers dug out the entire graveyard. The spot in an abandoned and unprotected state was later was covered by bushes of cane and wild grass.
It may be recalled here that the historic episode of India�s freedom struggle completed 125 years in 2019, and like in previous years, both the district administration and the Indian Army observed Krishak Swahid Divas on January 28 and January 29 respectively.
