Guwahati, Friday, November 24, 2006 EDITORIAL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tinsukia College marches ahead Dr Achyut Kumar Borthakur The historic Bengmora (now Tinsukia) was the capital of Matak Kingdom. The Matak Kingdom occupied a distinct place in the history of Asom. The first king of the Matak Kingdom was Sarbananda Singha, who was never power hungry and despotic. Sarbananda Singha maintained a sense of equality among his subjects and always gave importance to democratic values. Taxes in Matak Kingdom were hardly imposed and people were so free that many people from Ahom kingdom migrated to Matak territory to evade taxation. Even the British praised the Mataks as hard working race and king Sarbananda Singha as an efficient administrator. The Mataks preserved their independence since the later part of the nineteenth century until its annexation by the British in 1842.
Once considered a granary of the North East Tinsukia became a commercial hub with the discovery of tea and subsequent extraction of crude oil and coal. Fortune-seekers from different parts of India were thronging into Tinsukia. It became necessary for British interest to construct Railways as the modern means of transport. In 1884 the first railway line passed through this town from Dibrugarh to Ledo and a new railway station was built near a tank. The tank having three corners was dug by Godha Borbaruah, a Minister of King Sarbananda Singha and in course of time the new railway station got its name as Tinisukia or Tinsukia from this tank. The old name of the town `Bengmora' had fallen into disuse. The first seed of an institution of higher education was sown by a man of prodigious industry and of vast and varied learning and devoted social reformer, Braja Kishore Saraswat. Formerly a teacher of Birla Education Trust, Jaipur, Saraswat came to Tinsukia in 1950 to take up the responsibility of Headmastership of the Hindi English High School, Tinsukia. He promoted the idea of establishing a college at Tinsukia through the "Tinsukia Social Welfare Board" a society formed under his patronage to work for the spread of education in Tinsukia. The `Tinsukia Social Welfare Board' moved into action and andhoc Body was formed with Baleswar Prasad Gupta as Chairman to give a concrete shape to the idea. The first meeting of the Adhoc Committee was held on May 9, 1956 under the president ship of Baleswar Prasad Gupta in which Nagendra Nath Gogoi, Radha Krishna Khemka, Suresh Ch. Hom Chowdhury, JK Bhattacharjee and Braja Kishore Saraswat were present. For acceleration of this idea of establishing a college, the `enthusiasts' decided to organise a public meeting on May 20 at Tinsukia to educate the real masters the public. The `enthusiasts' circulated handbills through the school children of various local schools to make awareness campaign in support of a college and urging the people to attend the public meeting. The deputy commissioner of the then Lakhimpur District Md. Sultan was cordially invited to preside over the meeting. The all important public meeting was held on May, 20 1956 under the president-ship of Md. Sultan. It was attended by almost all the leading citizens of Tinsukia with an estimated attendance of 500 people. It was unanimously resolved to start an intermediate arts college at Tinsukia from the academic session of August. A strong organizing committee was formed with Jadunath Bhuyan as president and Braja Kishore Saraswat as secretary. The meeting formed a sub-committee with Suresh Chandra Hom Choudhury, Braja Kishore Saraswat and Saifuddin Ahmed as members to draft a scheme for the college which should be placed before the organising committee on or before 27.5.56. The meeting also asked president Jadu Nath Bhuyan and member Baleswar Prasad Gupta along with one of the secretaries to approach Gauhati University authority to seek permission to start college from 1956. The first meeting of the organising committee was held on under the presidentship May 26, 1956 of Jadunath Bhuyan, the architect modern Tinsukia. This meeting had accepted the scheme of the college prepared by the sub-committee and they also resolved to approach Senairam High School authority to temporarily accommodate the classes till the permanent building was constructed. The bank of historic Na-pukhuri was selected as the permanent site of the college and the permission was also obtained from the Tinsukia Municipal Board for the same. Later, it was found that Na-pukhuri site was too inadequate to accommodate a large institute and a fresh site was searched. A sub committee was formed to collect fund for the proposed college with president Jadunath Bhuyan, Anath Bandhu Bose, Baleswar Prasad Gupta, Radha Krishna Khemka and Manmoth Nath Raha as members. Jadunath Bhuyan, a noted philanthropist donated a substantial amount to meet the initial expenses. The second meeting of the organising committee was held on July 18, 1956. It was decided in that meeting to hold the opening ceremony of the college on August 19, 1956. The inaugural ceremony was organised in a befitting manner under the president-ship of Someswar Baruah in which Md. Sultan, the deputy commissioner, was the chief guest. The Tinsukians had shown extraordinary zeal and generous donations were announced amidst jubilant cheers. Nandalal Agarwalla, Hanumanbox Kanoi, Biseswar lal Khema Chunilal Pannalal assured to bear the expenses to be incurred for the construction of college building. September 1, 1956 was a great day in history of Tinsukia, when all gathered to see the fruit of their collective efforts. The rolls were first called and an institution of higher learning was born in the extreme north eastern part of our country. The Tinsukia college, as it was named, had a promising start with more than 150 students including a fair number of girl students. Initially the classes were held in Senairam High School. As the Na-pukhuri area was not suitable, the college found a new site at Kachuja Gaon. Due to the untiring efforts of Jadunath Bhuyan the college received an allotment of 15 bighas of land in Kachujan grazing ground, where the construction of permanent college building commenced from September 1, 1957. The foundation stone of the college building was laid by the then deputy commissioner of Lakhimpur, Lakheswar Sharma. The commerce section was started from 1957 and the college was upgraded to a degree college in the year of 1958. The permanent building of the college was inaugurated in 1959. With the introduction of Science faculty in 1964 a science building was constructed under the patronage of Dr Haribinod Sen, a noted physician and a philanthropist of the town. The college was fortunate in having as its founder principal in the person of a great educationist, a first class PG degree holder in English from Dacca University, Uma Prasanna Dey. He served the institution with sincerity and dedication. During his tenure, he ensured a standard of excellence in all spheres and infact, gave the college a solid foundation of sound academic life. The college has attracted students from all the districts of Upper Assam including Arunachal Pradesh. Multifaceted cultural and ethnic diversities give the institution a unique character were, one can meet a student from all parts of our country. The number of teaching staff has risen to 80 from a mere 4 in the beginning and the college now has 32 non teaching staff. About 2500 students are now studying in various streams with a good number of female students. At present the college has 19 departments including vocational studies and Bachelor of Business Administration course. (Published on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of the college) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: http://www.assamtribune.com/nov2406/edit2.html
