4-5 / 64
during the 2004 monsoon pushed water into the ‘nullah’
(drain), widening it to over a kilometre in breadth. The
estate lost almost five and a half hectares of land in
Section Nos 32 and 34. Every year, spurs and bamboo
cribs have to be set up along the river bank to prevent
the overflow from entering the estate and causing further
damage.
The Beel is a sanctuary for birds such as the purple
moorhen, egrets and storks, and the permanent abode of
many aquatic creatures. A wild bison which is a regular
visitor to the estate enjoys cooling off in this ‘watering
hole’. A sluice gate allows the excess water from the Beel
to flow into a low lying water enclosure which has been
marked as a No Spraying Zone in order to preserve the
ecosystem.
The oldest living Line Chowkidar, Sri Logon Sai Toppo,
remembers when tea chests were loaded onto a boat on
the Beel and transported to Dibrugarh for further
transshipment. At first, the chests were moved on the
trolley line which ran from the factory to a point near
the Beel. However, this proved to be a troublesome
process during the rains, so the estate’s four Fargo lorries
were pressed into service to transfer the chests from the
factory to the Beel.The chests were then loaded onto the
boat which was rowed from the Beel to Dibrugarh by a
crew of twelve oarsmen – six on each side. After
transferring the tea onto a larger ship bound for Kolkata,
the boat would return to Baghjan with the workers’
weekly rations. The coxswain of the boat built a house
close to the Beel, where he lived with his wife and child.
Sri Toppo recalls the PF Policy being introduced in 1955,
when he was made a permanent worker of the estate
under Mr D.E. Stewart. The first PF deduction started
at one rupee, five paise! The workers’ quarters in Charali
Line (Line No 4) and Line No 9, the oldest Lines of the
estate, were also converted into ‘pucca’ structures from
the same year. Sri Toppo was made a Line Chowkidar in
1965, during the tenure of Mr V.L. Austin, with a
monthly wage of
`
64. He retired in 1986 during the
tenure of Mr Sukhdarshan Singh.
When the estate was first planted out in 1922, it covered
an area of 300.65 hectares. In the 1960s, during the
tenure of Mr A.P. Lennox (1958-64) and Mr V.L. Austin
(1964-67), another 108.91 hectares were planted, while
61.62 additional hectares were planted during the
tenures of Mr R.K. Mathur and Mr S. Chatterjee in the
1970s. Another 103.28 hectares were planted in the
1980s when Mr Jagjit Singh, and later, Mr B.K. Panth,
were managing the estate. By the mid-1990s, all the
extension areas were planted, and the estate’s tea-bearing
area now covers 607.30 hectares.
Many changes have been made in the numbering of the
Sections under the new Sectional Plan – the only Section
number that remains unchanged is that of Section No 9,
first planted in 1924-26. Sri Toppo chuckles at the
memory of the confusion caused when these changes
were first made!
According to what Sri Toppo remembers, the present
Factory Assistant’s bungalow used to be a ‘chung’
bungalow in the 1950s with Mr Miller as its first
occupant, while the present ‘chung’ bungalow used to be
the Manager’s Bungalow.The South Side bungalow was
constructed when Section No 3 was planted out in the
early 1960s.The main office remains as it was in the past
but the factory was much smaller and had ‘chungs’ for
the drying of tea leaves.
Sri Mukheswar Chetia was an excellent football player
in his youth, representing the estate at various
tournaments. An open tournament has been hosted by
Baghjan since 1978, in which the winners are presented
with a running shield.The residents of Baghjan are very
interested in sports.The inter-Line football competition
and the Maruti Cup cricket tournament are keenly
contested every year, with each Line putting up a team.
The best players from each Line then form the estate’s
team, which participates in the Khasi Cup inter-garden
football tournament.
Sailing on the Beel
Fargo Lorry
Coxswain’s House
Baghjan Estate Football Shield
Maruti Cup Cricket
Khasi Cup Football
L to R: Sri Mukheswar Chetia, Sri Logon Sai Toppo & Sri Jatin Hazarika
04 January 2016
January 2016 05
The Wild Bison
Purple Moorhens
Flooded Road above the Sluice Gate