IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNICATION IN ASSAM DURING BRITISH RULE. When MILLS visited ASSAM in 1853, carts and carriages were unknown and the roads were few and bad. The two great trunk roads, which now run east and west along both the banks of BRAHMAPUTRA, had not at that time being commenced and there were practically no roads at all in SYLHET and CACHAR. In recent times great progress has been made. A regular PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT was established in the years 1868 and 1880. Local BOARDS were created for the management of affairs of local interest were placed in charge of all roads of purely local importance. 5815 miles of road fit for vehicular traffic was constructed. In 1847, a steamer service on the BRAHMAPUTRA river was established by GOVERNMENT, but the boats ran only at certain interval and they did not proceed beyond GAUHATI. A petition was submitted by the ASSAM COMPANY, in which it was prayed that a regular service be established, running monthly as far as GAUHATI and in alternate months, the whole way to DIBGRUGARH. Afterwards private companies were formed for the purpose of navigating the BRAHMAPUTRA and at a later date, the SURMA river . But their steamers ran very irregularly and were hampered in their movement by the large flats for goods which they towed, the loading and unloading of which often caused great delay at the different stations on the route. In, 1883, aided by a government subsidy, two companies established and a service of daily steamers on the BRAHMAPUTRA river . This service had gradually been improved with large, powerful and well equipped boats ,which performed the upward journey to DIBGRUGARH in less than a week, compared to the three weeks or even longer required by the old cargo steamers. A similar service was established on the SURMA valley, in 1887. In about 1885, two small state railways were constructed, one in the JORHAT subdivision and the other between THERIAGHAT and COMPANYGANJ. The later was closed after the earthquake in 1897.The former which was only 32 miles in length worked with fair success. A more important undertaking of the same period was the DIBRU-SADIYA railways ,which brought a great part of the LAKHIMPUR district into communication with BRAHMAPUTRA. It was 91 miles long and gave good return to the shareholders. This was followed, in 1895 by a small private railway from TEZPUR to BALIPRA, a distance of 20 miles. The chief railways in the province, the ASSAM-BENGAL STATE RAILWAYS , was opened for traffic in 1905. This line ran from the port of CHITTAGONG through TIPPERA, SYLHET and CACHAR, then across the NORTH CACHAR HILLS to LUMDING. Its total length in ASSAM was 607 miles. Two feeder lines had been constructed, the one from CHAPARMUKH to the BRAHMAPUTRA at SILGHAT, a distance of 51 miles and the other23 ½ miles in length from LALABAZAR TO KATAKHAL, in CACHAR. The EASTERN BENGAL STATE RAILWAYS had important extensions in the GOALPARA and KAMRUP districts, aggregating 180 miles, which brought the province into direct railway connection with CALCUTTA. A small line from ORANG to SINGRI on the BRAHMAPUTRA , a distance of 15 miles was constructed. All the railways in the province was on meter gauge. The above is more or less, a short account of communication in ASSAM under the BRITISH rule, collected from the book, ‘A HISTORY OF ASSAM ‘ written by SIR E. GAIT. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 04:26:27 +0000
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