Plans afoot to renovate landmarks in Hailakandi to make them tourist hotspots

Jan.30: The Hailakandi district administration is on a mission to spruce up the major landmarks and lesser known places of the district to make them tourist hotspots. Spearheading the beautification of the historical sites as well as other landmarks of the district is Deputy Commissioner, Megh Nidhi Dahal.

Dahal has embarked on beautification of the landmarks as well as new amenities together with cleanliness of the towns to give them a new look. Since day one he took over as Deputy Commissioner on May 9 last year, Dahal was on a fire fighting mission to combat the dreadful Coronavirus pandemic situation for close to eight months. With the pandemic now under control and on the wane, the Indian Administrative Officer of 2015 batch is on the job to make the district attractive and a tourist destination place.

On Friday, Dahal along with Circle Officer, Tridip Roy visited the historic Rontilla, the place where the Sepoy Mutiny took place, located a few kilometers from the district headquarters. Several people who took part in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857, popularly known as Sepoy Mutiny, were killed and hanged by the imperialist regime.

Dahal sought the cooperation of the public and the media for restoration of the historical site as well as other landmarks of the district. “Its long164 years since the Sepoy Mutiny took place at Rontilla and it’s time to pay our respectful homage to those who sacrificed everything so that we can breathe the air of freedom,” quipped Dahal.
Circle Officer, Roy said the historical site has been neglected for years together and the administration is planning to renovate the same so that the present generation is made aware of the supreme sacrifices by the martyrs for freeing the country from the yoke of slavery.

“Plans are on the anvil to hold the forthcoming 75th Independence Day at this very historical site to make this place the cynosure of all eyes,” said an official privy to the development. Perched on a verdant hillock, Rontilla has a martyrs’ memorial in which the supreme sacrifices of the freedom fighters are engraved.

Meanwhile, the administration under the leadership of Dahal is planning to beautify the Gandhi Ghat which has a life-size statue of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, and is also a place of immersion with the Dholeswari river flowing nearby. The statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose mounted on a horse at the Bata Point will also be decked up together with the BR Ambedkar statue. The Jatio Swahid Smarak has been given a facelift with new whitewash paint and illumination.

The young administrative officer, in his early 30s, has plans to beautify and renovate other famous and lesser known sites and has requested the public, the intelligentsia and the media to bring to his notice about such places that can be developed as places of tourists interest. Hailakandi town has got a new look with installation of high mast lights, construction of paver block roads in every lane and by-lane under the 16 municipal wards, besides 16 numbers of drainage that have mitigated to a great extent the water logging problem in several areas. Door to door collection of garbage and source segregation are being carried out. A Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for processing of garbage is on the verge of completion.

Besides, the Deputy Commissioner’s official residence being spruced up, a new park with an aesthetically decorated gate just opposite to it is also coming up. New public toilets have been constructed. The traffic scene which was earlier chaotic is being gradually streamlined with designated roadside parkings and no parking zones to regulate traffic on busy thoroughfares.

That is not all. The administration is mulling to go in for parking on the sides of the widened road from SK Roy Civil Hospital point to the Metro Bazaar Mall for smooth flow of traffic. It may be mentioned that Hailakandi town has been already declared open defecation free (ODF). Moreover, under the Swacch Survekshan Survey 2020, the Hailakandi Municipal Board bagged the third position in North East region in the category of 25-50k population.