GUWAHATI, Dec 28 - A number of distinguished senior citizens of the State, including Dr Hiren Gohain, Harekrishna Deka, Dr Dinesh Baishya and Khanin Das, today staged a demonstration near Dighalipukhuri to voice their protest against the State Government�s move to allow construction of a war memorial inside the Dighalipukhuri campus by filling up a portion of the historic tank.
The protesters later submitted a memorandum to the Kamrup Metro Deputy Commissioner, demanding a halt to the ongoing construction activity in connection with the war memorial.
�Dighalipukhuri is an ancient and historic water-body, not to mention its aesthetic worth and the role it plays in bestowing upon the city a natural ambience. Under no circumstances would the citizens of Guwahati favour any desecration of the tank. Construction of the war memorial entails filling up of a portion of the northern part of the tank. In any case, we do not want any distortion of the natural and aesthetic grandeur of the historic water-body through any kind of concrete construction,� Dr Hiren Gohain said.
Dr Gohain said that the senior citizens demanded that the ongoing war memorial construction inside the Dighalipukhuri campus be stopped immediately and the portion already constructed be demolished.
�Our demand does not amount to showing disrespect to the war heroes. There will be no dearth of vacant land by the side of National Highways for the war memorial to come up in a better manner than inside the Dighalipukhuri campus,� he said.
Dr Gohain also alleged that the State Government was misleading the people by linking the war memorial with the historic Battle of Saraighat.
�We had a discussion with Army authorities present at the site, but they made it clear that the war memorial had nothing to with Saraighat. And in any case, we have memorials dedicated to the Saraighat heroes,� he added.
Some NGO members were also among those who took part in the demonstration.
