In the Millennium Park versus Ganesh Gogoi Kabita Kanan Park politics being played out in Jorhat of eastern Assam, the latter has registered a victory of sorts against the former.
Also read: Lungs of Jorhat choked in murky labyrinths of politics
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Last week, the Ganesh Gogoi Kabita Kanan Park located at the Doss and Co Chariali, became the first in Jorhat to be lit by green energy.
A solar powered lamp donated generously by M/S Mangalam threw a halo of light over the busts of Papori kobi Ganesh Gogoi and Harijan Bandhu Krishna Sarma installed therein.
The Ganesh Gogoi Kabita Kanan Park bested the Millennium Park in dispelling the darkness which had descended on the Park courtesy the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited since February 27.
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APDCL had disconnected power to the GGKK Park in April because of a whopping unpaid bill of more than Rs 1.30 lakh.
At present the bill is more than 1.50 lakh
The Millennium Park too has had its power disconnected several years ago but from the largesse of more than Rs 10 lakh given by Jorhat MLA and Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly Hitendra Nath Goswami for beautification and landscaping , the unpaid bill of about Rs 45,000 was paid to APDCL recently from this amount by the committee in charge of the renovation.
But the park is still in darkness with the committee mulling on how best to do this without making a dent in the State exchequer.
The construction of Millennium Park at the juncture of the busy Baruah Chariali was initiated by Goswami, then AGP MLA to celebrate the millennial but could not be completed during his tenure and was inaugurated by then Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in 2004.
Hence the largesse to the Park, after he was returned to power on a BJP ticket in 2016, after three terms of Congress governance in the district and state.
The GGKK Park on the other hand had been adopted by the Jorhat Citizens Forum.
The Forum are a group of people, mostly residing in the vicinity of the Park who came together to keep this Park built by Jorhat Congress parliamentarian B K Handique in 2001, from going to seed, as well as restoring power in July 2017 after procuring a set of new lights.
The bill at that time was Rs 1.21 lakh, though power had been disconnected in November, 2013
The APDCL kept on calculating the surcharge on 15 kw which came to nearly Rs 2000 per month at Rs 145 per kilowatt though no one knows to whom the bills were submitted after Handique’s death in July , 2015.
In 2014 Handique had also lost to BJP’s Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and the downslide of the Park had begun.
Fed up with all the dilly dallying and false assurances the locals started looking at other options and M/S Mangalam came to their aid with a solar light which has illuminated the Park once again.