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– Sarita Dasgupta
T
he Assam Railways &Trading Company Limited,
or AR&T as it was called, was incorporated in
1881 to construct a railway, develop coalfields and
establish a steamer service in Upper Assam. The railway
and steamer service were essential for transporting coal,
and later, timber, oil and tea.
Large tracts of jungle had to be cleared to make way for
the railway tracks. Since vegetation grows very quickly in
Assam, the problem was keeping the
cleared land free of undergrowth
thereafter. It was decided that planting
tea by the sides of the tracks would be the
best solution. Thus, in September 1891,
tea was planted on 78 acres of the estate
christened ‘Margherita’. The next year,
AR&T incorporated the Makum
(Assam) Tea Company to look after
‘Margherita Garden’ and later, Dehing
and Dirok estates. Interestingly, ‘Makum
Bagaan’ is what Margherita T.E. is still
locally called.
In 1908, 2000 acres of land were obtained at Namdang.
The area was cleared and planted out the next year under
the supervision of Mr D. J. Mackintosh of AR&T.
William Warren
took charge in
1912 and planted
out another 500
acres.
In 1916, the estate was handed over to another new
company formed by AR&T, called the Namdang Tea
Company Ltd, whose first Chairman was Mr Walter
Butler. Mr Warren continued to manage the estate until
1934, and was a pillar of the Company.
Head Tea House, Sri Ashok Bordoloi, recounts that his
father, Sri Surendra Nath Bordoloi, joined the estate
in 1935. He was
promoted to ‘Garden
Babu in Charge’ in
December 1942 and
made responsible for
all the ‘garden work’
with a monthly salary
of Rs 80/-!
Bounded by Margherita town on the north,Tirap District
of Arunachal Pradesh on the south, the Patkai forest on
the east and Margherita T.E. on the west, Namdang T.E.
has a total Grant Area of 1405 hectares with 756.13
hectares currently under tea.The estate has three Divisions
– East Side,West Side and Namtok.With 165 of Namtok
Division’s total area of 262 hectares located in the
Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh, Namdang is
the Company’s only estate which pays taxes to two
different states!
East Side and West Side are demarcated by the main road
running through the estate, with the main office, factory
and some of the bungalows being located in West Side.
The workers are housed
in Lines which take
their name from various
sources – Girja Line is
close to the church or
‘girja’; Basti Line is next
to a settlement or ‘basti’; Club Line is situated near
Margherita Club; Digboi Line probably took its name
Namdang is a beautiful estate in the Margherita area of Upper
Assam. Those who have been posted there will revisit it and those
who haven’t will get acquainted…
July 2014 07
06 July 2014
Bridge over the Dehing River, 1894
Bidding Farewell to Burra Sahab
Clean Environment - Workers' Lines
Sri Surendra Nath Bordoloi (2nd from right) with Colleagues & Mr J. E. Maltby, 1948
1930s
2014