500-year-old village in Chirang remains violence, crime-free

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A 500-year-old village named Dangtal in Chirang district still remains free from violence and crime.

Though this Bodo village falls under Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) but it still exists as a part of Bongaigaon Assembly segment.

Since the village, having a population of over 365 households, was free from incidents of crime and domestic violence, the Bongaigaon district administration declared it a 'model village' on October 2 in 2004.

It still claims a crime-free habitat having strong social bonds among its residents who remain united all the time as the followers of 'Bathow religion."

40 percent of males in this village are farmers and the rest are government employees, whereas most of the women here are homemakers except a few who are school teachers.

The only social institution of the village is 'Bathou Club' which had received awards two times for performing the best in football tournaments. Also, 8 members (footballers) of the 48-year-old club got jobs under the sports quota and are still serving in various government departments.

The clean and model village, located around 4 kilometers west of Bongaigaon district headquarters, has a 'community granary' from which the villagers borrow paddy during their need and return the grains with additional 20 kgs per quintal. It is also a practice to provide 4 quintal grains to each household when they perform rituals.

"There is no incident of domestic violence and crimes like theft, extramarital affairs, substance abuse, infighting between neigh- bours, backbiting, etc., in our Village which is 500-year-old. We celebrate Garja (Bathow Puja) and Bwisagu every year in the village. We do organic farming to produce vegetables and grains," Manalal Basumatary (57) a leading person in the village, said.

Because of its peaceful and cordial atmosphere, local residents do not want to leave the village, many of the residents are doing jobs outside the village but they prefer to do their jobs staying here, a local resident and a retired employee of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Thomas Basumatary (63) said.

Words by Tejesh Tripathy

[This Article was originally published in the Assam Tribune daily newspaper on Sunday, January 1, 2023 ]