1. Dated Guwahati the 20 th of January 2014
To
Mr Ashutosh Agnihotri
Deputy Commissioner
Kamrup (Metro) District
Guwahati
Subject : Appeal to prevent dislocation of Turtles from Jorpukhuri
pond, Uzanbazar, Guwahati and enquire into the workings of the
Ugratara temple.
Sir,
I am Dr Satyakam Phukan, I am a Consultant Surgeon in
independent practice, with attachment to Wintrobe Hospital,
Ambari, Guwahati. I reside on the north bank of the west pond of the
twin ponds of Jorpukhuri at Uzanbazar locality of Guwahati city.
Dwarf Turtle (দৰা) on the bank
of Jorpukhuri pond
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2. Dwarf Turtle (দৰা) basking on a bamboo
The west pond of the west pond of the twin ponds of Jorpukhuri is a
scene of tranquillity in the busy and bustling city of Guwahati. Along
with the ducks, swan, fishes and other beautiful creatures dwelling
in it there are a good number of Turtles which inhabit this pond.
Among the Turtles there are some larger variety of large Turtles and
a larger number of smaller dwarf Turtles known in Assamese as
“Dura(দৰা)”. It is really a good and refreshing sight seeing the
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3. Turtles basking in the sun on the banks and on the floating objects.
Bigger Turtle on the bank and in water
Sadly enough due to what I have come to know as sheer superstitious
belief of some persons who are self associated with the Ugratara
temple which is looking after the said pond, the existence of these
beautiful are in great danger. It seems they themselves believe and
are also propagating stories about ill omens associated with these
innocent turtles. They are spreading false and concocted stories
about predatory nature of these innocent turtles preying on ducks
and swans of the pond. These stories are being spread with the
intention of removing the turtles from the said pond.
The made the their first attempt the year 2012. The Ugratara temple
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4. authorities give contract for fishing by net to private parties from
time to time. In the year 2012 during one such fishing operation I
came to know that they were planning to remove Turtles which may
be caught in the fishing net. Prior to the starting of the fishing
operation I personally asked some of these persons associated with
such activities on whether they really plan to remove the Turtles as
rumoured in the locality. They flatly denied about any such move.
But on the day of fishing when the workers of the private fishing
contractor were working on the net, I asked one of them on my way
back from hospital at around 1 pm, what they will do with the
Turtles which will may be caught on the net. The worker told me that
they have been instructed remove the Turtles that gets caught in
their nets, giving them the liberty of whatever means they take to
dispose off the Turtles from the pond. I told the fishermen in their
nets to keep back the Turtles in the pond and explained to them it is
illegal to take Turtles and rushed straight to the Latasil Police
station. I met one officer their and informed them that the Turtles
are a highly protected species of wildlife and that some person are
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5. conspiring to remove the Turtles from Jorpukhuri pond. The Officer
sent along with me two policemen, who came and warned the Temple
authorities and the fisherman not to remove the Turtles and guarded
till the end of the fishing.
For that time being, the Turtles got saved and some animal lovers
organisations also came into scene and started to keep track of the
well being of the Turtles. But the conspirators continued their game.
They started spreading rumours about the bigger among the Turtles
being predatory in nature and preying on the ducks and swan of the
pond. But most important they tried to spread this false idea as an
evil omen and the Turtles of the ponds as haunted creatures, all in
the conspiratorial attempt to remove the Turtles. Thus the Turtles
became equivalent of the Witches which are being hunted down in
many of the rural areas of Assam and the common term being heard
in the locality is “Narakhadak Kaso নৰখাদক কাছ” or “Man­Eater
Turtles”.
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6. Pump being used to drain out water from the pond
I am sending this information to you because at present those same
people in the name of the Ugratara temple authorities are pumping
out water from the west pond of the Jorpukhuri pond since last few
days and are doing this supposedly for purification of the water since
the finding of an unidentified corpse of man in the pond some days
back. Mentionable is that the Ugratara temple is supposed to be run
by a committee at the head of which is the District and Sessions
Judge Kamrup, the Doloi (দৈল) or the head of the temple is supposed
to be elected from among many senior priests known as
Bordeuris(বৰেদওৰী). Regretable enough, many unauthorised people
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7. are hijacking the day to day affairs of the temple and all the ills
described above and to be described below are due to the undue
meddling interference of those unauthorised and unentitled elements
mentioned above.
Another reason the waters of the Jorpukhuri west tank attached to
the Ugratara temple being drained is because of the waters of the
pond becoming very stagnant and filled with thick layer of Green
Algae.
Stagnant water with green Algae and scum
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8. This has happened because outlet for the water in the south eastern
corner of the pond have been blocked since last few years since the
beginning of the interference in the affairs of the temple by those
unauthorised and unentitled elements mentioned above. Since the
outlet by which the waters of the pond drains out via the drain which
takes the water towards Ambari have been blocked with stones and
Outlet blocked with sandbags and stones
sand bags, the waters have become stagnant and become overgrown
with Green Algae. The Algae scum can be seen at various places in
the pond but more towards the south eastern part. I have asked
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9. some of those people why they have blocked the outlet, the answer is
to keep the fishes from moving out.
I came to know that after draining the water from the pond they are
again planning to remove the Turtles from the pond. I sent
information to many concerned persons particularly groups and
persons concerned with the Turtles. Through some of them
information was sent to the Forest Department. I got the information
that yesterday some officials from the Government of Assam's Forest
department came and met the Ugratara temple authorities and some
local people and warned against handling the Turtles without
informing the Forest Department. But these people as per my
information, have tried to impress upon the Forest officials that they
want to remove the Turtles to some river or Dighalipukhuri tank as
because there is excess of Turtles in the pond. The reality is the
Turtles are quite at home in the pond and in right numbers but there
is excess of malafide intention on part of the conspirators who want
their removal on pure imaginary and superstitious grounds.
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10. In addition to this issue of Turtles described above I would like to
intimate you about other wrongful deeds of these persons mentioned
above, in the interest of giving you a complete picture. The Ugratara
temple is an ancient temple dating back into historical times and
there are many historical relics in the temple complex and in its
immediate vicinity. Many such relics are being tampered with and
many removed from the temple premises at the behest of the group of
persons mentioned above. In the month of December 2000 they
started construction of a new temple inside the temple premises
which has led to congestion and deformation of the historical
appearance of this ancient monument.
During that construction
many historical relics in the
form of carved stones and
others were found and it was
reported in The Assam
Tribune dated 25th
of
December 2000. But today
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11. hardly few them remains in the temple complex most of them are
being disposed off. On the bank of Jorpukhuri pond in the just
outside the Ugratara temple wall is large stone slab with an
inscription in Assamese script and language from the time of Ahom
Swargadeo Siva Singha describing the event of the construction of
the Ugratara temple by a Barphukan of the Ahom Kingdom under
orders of Queen Phuleswari. That historical stone slab has been
painted with red cement paint.
Inscription in 2011
Presentl y with cement paint
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12. Not only the inscription many of the ancient stone idols inside the
temple premises have also been red cement painted, destroying their
ancient originality .
Cement painted stone
idols inside the wester n
gate of Ugr atar a temple
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13. In view of the above I wish make the following
prayers before you
:
1. Take up the matter of the Turtles seriously with the
Forest Department officials.
2. Ensure that once the water is completely drained
out of the pond, the Turtles should be immediately
placed in the custody of the Forest Department.
3. Ensure that once water refills in the pond, the
Turtles should be returned to their previous habitat
in the west pond of the Jorpukhuri, after proper
assessment of their viability there by Forest
department.
4. Ensure that no Turtles is relocated to other location
on ground that there is excess of Turtle in the pond
because that ground is based on pure falsehood
guided by superstitious and imaginary beliefs of some
abnormal people.
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14. 5. Enquire into the working of the Ugratara temple
and see that no unauthorised and unentitled
abnormal persons are able to meddle in the temple
affairs and coerce and misguide the priests and
regular workers of the temple to do abnormal,
impractical and unsocial deeds.
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely
Dr Satyakam Phukan
Jorpukhuripar, Uzanbazar
Guwahati, Assam
P.I.N : 781001
Phone : 9954046357
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