Pond covering 9.5 bighas of land being given a facelift with Rs 1.8 cr
HT Correspondent
TEZPUR, Oct 9: At a time when Tezpur litchi is receiving widespread international praise for its unique taste and its flavour being accorded the GI tag, an age-old pond at the heart of the town which is popularly known as ‘lichu pukhuri’ for the several varieties of litchis such as Bombaiya, Bilati and Shahi varieties grown on its bank is now going to be a centre for tourists’ attraction.
Related Posts:
Covered with rows of varieties of litchi trees, the pond located in around 9.5 bighas of the land area is now being given a facelift with an allocation of Rs 1.8 crore by the government. It is worth mentioning that although it is now named ‘lichu pukhuri’ because of litchi, litchi had nothing to do with the excavation of the famous pond.
History reveals that during the British reign, the headquarters of the undivided Darrang district was shifted from Mangaldai to Tezpur during 1835 and after the British bureaucrats had settled their headquarters in Tezpur they had shifted the two Biswanath Chariali-based ‘Gora’ and ‘Gomali’ army base-camps to Tezpur. The said two platoons of the Army used two ponds one of which is known as Dhuba Pukhuri and the other as Paltan Pukhuri.
It is also believed that the Ahom kings back in the day used these two ponds for various purposes. On the other hand, Sahitya Kandari Padmanath Gohain Baruah termed today’s lichu pukhuri as ‘Rohdhola Pukhuri’ instead of Paltan Pukhuri. In the chapter of ‘pukhuri sanskar’ (improvement/ purification of the pond) mentioned on page no 282 of his autobiography ‘Mur Soworoni’, Padmanath Gohain Baruah also mentions that the two ponds (Paltan Pukhuri and Dhuba Pukhuri) were used by British army which were excavated by Ahom kings. Significantly, since the ancient period, it was a norm to excavate ponds to meet the need for water for kings and the public as well. Banamala Verma in his copper plaque also mentioned ‘padum phulore su-subhito sundar sarobar’ which aptly said about today’s Padum Pukhuri that signifies the identity of historic Tezpur town.
Likewise, the king of Salastambha dynasty Harjjar Verma had excavated a large pond that came to be known as Hajara Pukhuri.
It is worth mentioning that after becoming chairman of the Tezpur Municipality Board in 1922, Sahitya Kandari, Asam Sahitya Sabha’s first president Padmanath Gohain Baruah besides other civic development tried to give a new facelift to the ponds within the city converting into a heritage site. However, in between cleaning the Paltan Pukhuri/ Rohdhola Pukhuri, he planted the sapling of hybrid litchi on its banks imported from Kolkata (then Calcutta) and since then Paltan Puhuri has been known as lichu pukhuri (Litchi pond).
Today the litchis produced from lichu pukhuri are bringing laurels to the historic city achieving international praise for their unique taste and flavour. But during the past many decades, the pond remained in a dilapidated condition due to a lack of better maintenance.
Meanwhile, under the initiative of Sonitpur DC Deba Kumar Mishra, an allocation of Rs 1.8 crore was sanctioned under the programme ‘Amrut’ of the Assam government to give a new look to the pond to attract both domestic and foreign tourists. The project is going on in full swing that includes cleaning, purification of the water, checking of the erosion in the pond through the geo-bag and iron fencing, construction of paver block footpaths, building of concrete bench, painting, electrification, beautification of the banks, main gate, plantation, and wall writing, etc.
The pond will also be given top priority in the field of production of fish. However, the big-budget project is almost ready to welcome visitors and will soon be opened.
This would be a unique recreation site for the common people, especially children and old aged people. Besides boating, the administration plans to make a walking way for people and a stage for holding different events including cultural programmes.
