DOOMDOOMA, Feb 25 - With the inauguration of Asia�s longest bridge over the river Brahmaputra connecting Sadiya, the eastern most border place of the State with Dholla (Saikhowaghat), the popular scenes of the ferry ghats on either banks of the Brahmaputra will go in to oblivion. People will also lose the charm of crossing the mighty Brahmaputra on a ferry or a boat.
One can see the never-ending activities of the people on ferry ghats from dawn to dusk every day. A ferry has just reached Dholla ghat, while another one is heading towards Sadiya loaded with two big trucks and a bus. One who has never been to this place, will not be able to feel the charm of this popular scene. The experience of reaching the ferry ghats in the rainy season through muddy roads and in dusty winter season can only be felt, can�t be described in words.
Moreover, anyone who has tasted the rice, dal and hot fried boriola fish in the small hotels near the ferry ghats, will also never it. With the opening of the bridge in mid-April this year all these experiences and popular scenes will become nostalgia.
Moreover, around 800 people who have been earning their livelihood through these ferry ghats will lose their source of earning.
Though the bridge has solved a big problem of the people of Sadiya, it, however, has also brought darkness to the lives of those people who earn their livelihood from these ghats. This situation reminds the story of Jahnu Baruah�s award winning film Hkhagoroloi Bahu Door.
These people are now urging the government to help them with an alternate source of income after the opening of the bridge.
On February 18, they held a meeting under the presidentship of Ighrial Brown at Dholla ferry ghat. In meeting an organisation named Naoria Sangsthapan Santha, was formed which has convened a huge public meeting on March 5 at Saikhowa Shantipur and called for a ghat bandh on that day.
Children home opened: �Keshab Bahety Surjoday Children Home� was inaugurated at Gangabari near here on February 21. The children home was inaugurated by Assistant Commissioner of Tinsukia district Bhaskar Jyoti Borah. The inaugural meeting was presided over by Ramesh Goswami, chairman of the Child Welfare Committee, Tinsukia.
The children home was constructed by an eminent businessman of Rupai Siding near Doomdooma, Narayan Bahety in memory of his late son Keshab Bahety in a plot of land measuring around one bigha at Gangabari beside NH-37. The children home will be maintained by an NGO named SURJODAY of Makum of Tinsukia district.
Before inauguration, 16 orphans who were kept in a rented house by Tinsukia District Child Welfare Committee and Tinsukia District Administration, were brought to this children home.
In the inaugural meeting, the donor of the land and building of the children home, Narayan Bahety distributed 20 blankets among the children of the home. Meanwhile, journalist Hira Phukan donated Rs 4000 to the children home while retired principal of Tinsukia Commerce College, PK Mazumder promised to provide some sports materials to the children of the home later.