General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chetan Kumar Shrivastava inaugurated a Traditional Sports Centre at the Old Amingaon Railway Station heritage site on Tuesday.
Developed through the NF Railway Sports Association (NFRSA), the first-of-its-kind facility transforms a historic railway platform into a dedicated centre for indigenous games, reflecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Vikas (Development) alongside Virasat (Heritage).
The Centre will promote traditional sports of Assam and the Northeast, including Dhopkhel, Tang-Guti, Peng Khel, Kori-Khel, Roshi-Tana, Mukna and Yubi Lakpi of Manipur, and Insuknawm of Mizoram. These games, rooted in the region’s diverse communities, celebrate physical agility, community bonding and survival skills but facees declining participation amid modernization, digitalization and the growing dominance of mainstream commercial sports.
NFRSA plans to organise traditional sporting activities at the Centre and facilitate coordination with organisations working to preserve indigenous games. The facility aims to provide a dedicated space for their revival and enable state and national level competitions and events.
Sharing his views on the occasion, the General Manager appreciated NFRSA’s initiative to preserve the station through active use by children and sportspersons. He expressed confidence that the Centre would safeguard the site for future generations, revive traditional games and help nurture national level players.
Established in 1908, Old Amingaon Railway Station was a principal gateway to Guwahati and the Northeast in pre Independence India. Its single platform, approximately half a kilometre long and 25 metres wide, served a major economic and trans-shipment hub on the erstwhile Assam-Bengal Railway. The historic Assam Mail brought tea planters, missionaries, traders, freedom fighters and travellers, who crossed the Brahmaputra by ferry.
The station is closely associated with the freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi, fondly remembered as Bapu, travelled through it during his visits to Assam in 1921, 1926, 1934 and 1946. During the 1921 Non-Cooperation Movement visit, he was accompanied by Deshbhakta Tarun Ram Phukan, whose translations of Gandhiji’s speeches inspired thousands. British and American military personnel also passed through the station during the Second World War.
The Eastern Bengal Railway’s Amingaon-Pandu train ferry connected the north and south banks, carrying entire trains and goods on specialised barges and handling up to 250 wagons daily in each direction. It linked railway networks extending through the Kaunia-Dharla route towards Lalmonirhat in erstwhile East Bengal. The station received its last train on June 7, 1963, with rail traffic commencing over the Saraighat Bridge on June 8, 1963, bringing the ferry-linked railway era to a close.
By bringing traditional sports to this historic setting, NFR seeks to preserve both the Northeast’s railway legacy and its indigenous sporting traditions.
NFR inaugurates traditional sports centre ai old Amingaon heritage station in Guwahati
