GUWAHATI: A total of 80 NCC (National Cadet Corps) cadets from Assam are all set to take part in the first ever Brahmaputra sailing expedition in the northeast region.
The sailing expedition which will cover a distance of 220 kilometres has been named ‘Lachit 1’ after 17th century Assamese war hero Lachit Borphukan who was the chief commander of the Ahom army in the naval battle of Saraighat in 1671. The expedition will begin from October 16 and will end on October 25.
The cadets will be undertaking the expedition in DK Whaler Sailing boats of the naval NCC units. These boats are not motorised and thus the cadets will complete the expedition only using the wind and muscle power, said army officials during a press conference which was addressed by Major General Bipin Bakshi (ADG, NCC, NER), Brigadier DB Pany, group commander, NCC group Guwahati, and Captain (IN) LD Sharma, CO, 48 Naval NCC.
Addressing the media on Friday October 11, Major General Bipin Bakshi (ADG, NCC, NER) said, “We are stepping into an uncharted area, nobody has ever attempted a sailing expedition on the Brahmaputra. The cadets will cross the area where the naval battle of Saraighat took place in 1671 between the Ahom kindgdom and the Mughal empire in which the Mughal empire was defeated.”
He added that he had moved a proposal for a sailing expedition back in 1988 but due to lack of resources available then, the proposal was not approved.
This sailing expedition is being undertaken by the NCC Directorate Shillong with help from Assam government and Army Eastern Command. Authorities said that the major objective of the sailing expedition is to train the cadets to face challenges and to instil a sense of team spirit, patience, endurance, leadership and camaraderie in them.
Apart from sailing, the cadets, in collaboration with the principal conservator of forest, Assam, will also spread awareness among the nearby villages about the dangers to Brahmaputra and its marine life and role of the riverine population in protecting it.
The team of NCC cadets, which consists of 10 girl cadets too, has been preparing to undertake the adventure for the past few months. They will halt every night and will sail only during the daytime. The army authorities are planning to make this expedition an annual feature from this year onwards.
The flag off ceremony will take place at Biswanath ghat and authorities informed that chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will preside over the flagging in ceremony which will take place on October 25 at Pandu port.
With a view to pay tribute to Lachit Borphukan and the battle of Saraighat, the officials decided to explore the naval area where the historical battle had taken place.
The National Defence Academy (NDA), gives out the Lachit Borphukan gold medal to the best passing out cadet.
Wanted to pay tribute to First Lachit Borphukan award winner will also be present at the flagging in ceremony. Major General Bipin Bakshi informed that the first recipient of the Lachit Borphukan award winner commander Malshe will also be present when the cadets return from their sailing expedition on October 25.
In his message for youth of Assam, Major General Bipin Bakshi said, “Through this expedition, we want to spread out the message to the youth of Assam that we need to face challenges and move forward and need to step away from mobiles and video games and get into real activities. There’s a need to go out into the real world, meet people and learn to interact with people.”