Pabna's 'indigo hut'

Discovery of a tunnel and square areas resembling rooms while digging a pond has caused quite a stir among residents of Nurullahpur village in Pabna.

The ruins ancient bricks and scattered wooden beams teleported the elders of Nurullahpur a century back reminiscing tales of an indigo plantation owner.

Digging work was going on in Khairul Islam’s land for the past several days. After the diggers stumbled upon the relics, hundreds of people thronged the site to catch a glimpse of the tunnel and the structure that was unearthed.

Pabna's Deputy Commissioner Kazi Ashraf Uddin rushed to the scene after hearing the discovery and ordered halting the ‘excavation’.

He avoided making any guess about what the structure could be when reporters asked him.

"Nothing can be said without proper examination," Kazi Ashraf said. "We have contacted the Rajshahi's zone office of the Department of Archaeology. They will take a look and decide accordingly."

The discovery, however, triggered wild guesses among the elderly locals. They believe it is remnants of an indigo warehouse from the British colonial period.

Laxmikunda Union Parishad Chairman Anisul Haq Molla said: "As kids, we heard stories of indigo house located here. A British, Cock Borne, was said to be the owner of the warehouse. He used to control indigo plantation in this area."

The land's owner Khairul Islam said they had owned the plot for two generations.

"A structure started emerging on Monday after digging nearly 20 feet.

"The news spread like wildfire when workers found old wooden beams and the entrance to a tunnel," he said.

Workers were awestruck when they saw the tunnel's entrance and wide brick walls. They immediately stopped digging and soon the site became crowded as the news of the find spread.

Out of curiosity, several youths even went into the tunnel with torches to see where it leads.

"The tunnel goes straight up to nearly 25 feet and then it branches out in two directions. But the branches hit dead end a little further down," said Khairul Islam quoting the youths.

M Abdul Alim, Chairman of the Department of Bangla at Pabna University of Science and Technology, said a book by former Assistant Director of the Archaeology Department, Md Khalequzzaman titled 'A report on the archaeological survey of greater Pabna district' says there was an indigo warehouse at Nurullahpur.

According to that book, there were remains of an indigo hut in Nurullahpur near the Padma River, some 12.83km south of Ishwardi and 4.8km north from the Laxmikunda Union office.

However, later people started inhabiting the land.

Abdul Alim said the hut was demolished during the 'indigo revolt' in the second half of the 19th century.

The indigo revolt was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters in Bengal around 1859.

The site of discovery is around two kilometres from the Padma.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sanowar Hossain visited the site around Monday afternoon and ordered to halt excavation. He also asked police to guard the site.

"The Upazila administration will submit a report to the district administration. Steps will be taken as per the higher authority's directives," he told bdnews24.com.