JORHAT, Feb 9 - Assam Assembly Speaker and Jorhat MLA Hitendra Nath Goswami today laid the foundation stone of a park along with a statue of Maniram Dewan at the Cinnamara Tea Estate here.
It may be mentioned here that Dewan was the first Indian tea planter and a martyr of the Great 1857 Revolt against the British rule. He had established Cinnamara TE and the Senglung TE near Sonari (Charaideo district). Dewan was hanged along with Piyali Barua at Phansi Ali here by the British on February 26 , 1858 on charges of taking part in the 1857 uprising.
Goswami, while speaking at the function organised on the occasion at the Jorhat ATCL office within the Cinnamara TE � a garden owned by the State Government-owned PSU � said that a larger than life statue of Dewan along with a park in his (Dewan) honour will be set up in the garden established by the pioneer entrepreneur and a patriot.
The Speaker said that the statue will be of a gigantic size so that it is visible from the road. He said that an attractive recreational park along with a food plaza will be set up so that both the statue and the park in the very garden established by the legendary Assamese businessman who later became a martyr could develop into a tourist site.
Stating that funding of the project will be from the State Government�s Untied Fund and other heads, Goswami said that with tea tourism becoming popular in recent times within and outside India, there was huge potential of the project to draw tourists that come to Assam to have a feel of tea garden life.
Goswami said he hoped the project would bring economic returns to the tea workers� community and benefit their children.
�The statue along with plaque detailing his (Dewan) life story would be very large, like the one of Dr Nelson Mandela, inspiring wonder and awe,� the Speaker observed.
Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa at the same function laid the foundation stone of the Maniram Dewan Chah Bipanan Kendra (tea retail outlet) which will be set up at the ATCL Jorhat office compound. Today was the 48th foundation day of ATCL.
It may be mentioned here that in 2010, the Maniram Dewan Memorial Trust, having Aroon Chandra Barooah, Maniram�s great-grandson as its working president, had approached both Dispur and New Delhi to honour Dewan with the title of �Father of Assam Tea�.
According to historical records, Dewan, born in 1806, had played a leading role in Assam politics during the early British rule, initially helping the Raj to establish peace with various tribes and chieftains after two Burmese invasions. He was an aide to the last Ahom king, Purandhar Singha, who appointed him Borbhandar Borua (head of royal treasury) after being restored as a tributary king in 1833 by the Raj.
Dewan, whose real name was Maniram Dutta, had set up the Cinnamara tea garden in 1845 after resigning from his post of Dewan (chief executive) with the British-instituted Assam Company, the first tea firm opened by an Assamese planter.
He was arrested in Calcutta when he went there to hand the British a memorandum from the Ahom king, Purandhar Singha. He was 51 when he was hanged in public, along with his aide Piyali Baruah, on February 26, 1858 on the banks of the Tocklai stream here.
