TINSUKIA, Oct 29 � The first coal museum of international standard in the north-eastern region namely, �Coal Heritage and Museum� was inaugurated by N Kumar, Director (Technical), Coal India Ltd (CIL), at Margherita near the head office of North East Coal Field (NECF) in Tinsukia district today.
The museum has been established for preservation of materials from the over hundred and twenty years of the coal mining history in this part of the world. The Margherita-Ledo coal mining story started in the year 1881 when British-owned Assam Railways and Trading Company (ARTC) discovered the black diamond in this part of the country and the actual mining had started in the year 1884. Since then whatever the company used and various types of presently available tools, machines, vehicles, camera projectors, etc., and all these antiques including important documents, photographs, etc., have been displayed in the museum for public viewing. The museum will also provide materials for research works in Geology and mining.
It may also be mentioned that the first Director of the company was Dr John Berry White who also pioneered the first Medical School at Dibrugarh that has subsequently been upgraded to the present-day Assam Medical College. The inaugural function was also attended by Chief General Manager, NECF, Anil Kr Bora and General Manager Debashish Sarkar, besides other distinguished guests, officers and employees of NECF.
