Bir Raghav Moran Government Model College yet to come up at permanent site

A CORRESPONDENT

DOOMDOOMA: Bir Raghav Moran (BRM) Government Model College, Doomdooma, which was started from the last academic session at a newly-constructed boys' hostel of Doomdooma College situated at Rupaisiding, is yet to get its permanent building constructed over the plot of land allotted by the government. As a consequence, the college is now facing the Herculean task of accommodating the new batch of first semester students for want of classrooms.

Principal Dr Amarjit Saikia said that as against the capacity of allotting 120 inmates in that hostel, they admitted around 400 students last year. Now to accommodate the new batch of about same number of students who are applying online, he has sought permission of the Doomdooma College authority to construct two temporary makeshift classrooms in the hostel premises. But the Doomdooma College authority has not only turned down the proposal but also served notice to evacuate the college hostel within August itself. This state of affairs has, therefore, raised many eyebrows among the saner section of people. Should this be the state of affairs of a college that has been proclaimed to be a model college by no other authority than the government itself?

The fact is that the State Government did make allotment of a plot of 30 bighas of land for sale to the college on the outskirts of Doomdooma town near the bypass. But political foul play allegedly retarded the progress because of the controversy over the naming of the college. Because of the continued demands of many student organizations, especially the Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA), the then education minister during the Congress regime, Himanta Biswa Sarma assured to set up one government degree college at Doomdooma as the only higher seat of learning -Doomdooma College- was overburdened with enrollment of over 3,000 students. But that did not materialize as the proposal was sent to cold storage.

Just few months before the assembly election, MP of Lakhimpur Parliamentary Constituency, Pradan Baruah took the initiative for the college under the name Bir Raghav Moran Government Model College and even got the plot of land selected by a team comprising Director Higher Education (DHE) and other government officials. At this stage, ATTSA began to vehemently protest over the name of the college and insisted that it should be named after first MLA of Doomdooma from the tea tribes community - Malia Tanti. There is no denying the fact that Tanti - a favourite of poet and politician Deva Kanta Barooah - was instrumental in starting many educational institutions of the area, besides his clarion call during the language movement of Assam in 1960 - Aamio Axamiya (We are also Assamese) - thereby implying that the tea tribes community was also part and parcel of the greater Assamese nationality.

Moreover, reportedly some local people obstructed physical possession over the allotted plot of land for the college. While it is imperative that the sentiment of ATTSA and that of the tea tribes community as a whole should not be overlooked, the greater interest of the students belonging to different communities of the society should also be looked into.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU), All Moran Students' Union (AMSU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) came forward on Wednesday and improved the condition of the entrance road to the college with sand and gravel as it had become slippery and muddy due to incessant rain. AASU vice-president Binoy Dubey and other leaders said in a statement that the government should take steps to offer full-fledged facilities to the students of the college in Arts, Science and Commerce streams.

The government has also been urged to establish a university at Tinsukia as per its decision to establish one university in each of the districts of Assam. The AASU also expressed concern over multi-national companies (MNCs) owning tea companies in Assam not doing CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities for the community and urged them to offer financial assistance to the children of the tea workers and employees for pursuing higher education. The AASU also urged Oil India Limited (OIL) and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) to develop the education sector through their CSR activities.

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