Nagaon

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Puranigudam Minar

2019: relocating the minaret

Nilutpal Timsina, April 26, 2019: The Times of India

The century-old Puranigudam Minar in Assam will be shifted from its original site in 20 days
From: Nilutpal Timsina, April 26, 2019: The Times of India

Puranigudam Minar, as the locals call it, stands tall in a dusty bylane of Nagaon. Situated inside the Puranigudam Masjid, built in 1824, the turret was about to be demolished to make way for a highway expansion project. The people of Purunigudam, cutting across religious lines, would not let that happen.

In 2015, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) proposed expansion of NH-37 into a four-lane highway. The Minar was in its way. A few concerned locals, both Hindus and Muslims, approached the district administration with a memorandum to preserve the Minar, but the NHAI and public works department said moving it would be difficult.

Not relenting, some of them started a crowd-funding initiative. Soon, their campaign caught the attention of an engineering firm based in Haryana.

“We proposed a technique called lifting-and-shifting... We lift the structure from its base, using plate rollers, and move it,” explained Gurdeep Chauhan, the engineer who worked this out. “The base of the Minar has a perimeter of 42 feet, intricately designed. A few accidents have damaged it a little over the year,” he said.

Now, the Minar is being moved 70 feet away from the original site, engaging six labourers. “Initially, we estimated a Rs 5-lakh budget. But it has shot up to Rs 8 lakh. So, our firm is chipping in. The work is 60% done. In another 20 days, we will be able to finish it,” Chauhan further said.

For the locals, this comes as a relief after a long battle. “It has been four years since we took the initiative to preserve the site. The Minar is a symbol of harmony in Nagaon. Through social media, a lot of people are now aware of it and help is coming in from all quarters,” said Chittaranjan Borah, a resident of Puranigudam, who was the first to alert the authorities about the need to preserve the site.