Shri Ramesh Chandra Saharia A true educationist ...
Ramesh Chandra Saharia was born on the 1st of December, 1930 in a family of high
tradition. He received blessings of a great man when he was a baby. Mahatma Gandhi
had come to Assam to collect donations for Harijan welfare and went to Tangla, then,
a tiny railway station twenty miles away from the sub-divisional headquarters of
Mangaldoi. Ramesh Chandra Saharia’s father, Shri Lambodar Saharia, went to meet
Gandhiji with baby Ramesh in his arms. Gandhiji look baby Ramesh in his lap gave
him a sweet, a kiss and a rupee coin from the small collection he had and blessed
him. True to the blessings of the Mahatma, Ramesh grew up to be an extremely polite
boy and later into a thorough gentleman. Shri Saharia was known to his friends,
colleagues and his co-workers as being a pleasing personality, kind hearted, amiable,
always respectful towards his elders all with a rare sense of understanding.
With a uniformly good academic career since his school days, Sri Saharia took his
Bachelors degree from Cotton College, Guwahati and did his M.A. in Economics and
LLB from the Banaras Hindu University. Shri Saharia was a voracious and avid reader,
his first hobby being reading and collecting books, journals and magazines. He has
left behind a valuable library enriched with books and journals on various subjects.
Despite his high educational qualifications, Shri Saharia chose to be a teacher
in the Tangla Aided Government High School with prime objective of socioeconomic
development for the place he belonged. He served the Tangla High School as its Headmaster
for fourteen long years till his entry into the State Legislative Assembly as an
MLA; from Panery constituency, in 1972. During this period he : devoted much of
his time to the spread of education and provided social service in the educationally
backward tribal areas of Tangla, in the northern part of Mangaldoi, sub-division,
now, in Udalguri District. He founded the Tangla Girls High School and was a leading
founder of the Tangla Collegeand was the President of theManaging Committee and
governing body. Shri Saharia was re-elected as an MLA for the second term in 1978,
during which he further contributed to the planning and development of socio-economic
programmes, including revenue and land reforms. Shri Saharia became a Minister in
the ministry headed by Shri Jogendra Nath Hazarika, on 17th of September, 1979 and
was holding the portfolio of the Departments of Forest, Sericulture and Weaving
and Khadi& Village Industries. He served for a second term as Minister for Home,
Jail, Civil Defense and Political Suffrage in the Ministrry which took oath on the
6th of December, 1980. Shri Saharia was sworn in as Minister, Revenue on the 22nd
of January, 1982.Shri Saharia breathed his last in harness, with a deep sense of
devotion and duty, on the 8th of February, 1982. Shri Ramesh Chandra Saharia dedicated
his life for the development of the state. The State Government in its tribute to
him said “Shri Saharia will always be remembered for his amiable disposition, his
devotion to duty, his deep sense of responsibility and love and affection for the
people. His death has deprived his colleagues of his valuable counsel and the State
an able administrator.”