Governor Azam Khan
I was delighted to read in The daily Star of 07th Oct Megasthenes' stroll down memory lane and to the governorship of Azam Khan in the then East Pakistan in the early 60s.
Though 'khaki' to the core, Gen Azam Khan was nevertheless a person who personified efficiency, incorruptibility and humanism in every action during his short time here. I can relate two incidents, which I know personally.
1. In 1960, Queen Elizabeth was due to visit East Pakistan on an official visit. The government gave great importance to it and spared no efforts to make her visit memorable. One flaw was, of course, the narrow, winding road from Tejgaon Airport to Shahbagh passing, which she would have to traverse, which was unthinkable.
The town plan called for a broad, straight, tree-lined avenue, but all efforts to vacate the area were mired in court cases and writs and other obstructive measures. With time running out, the DIT turned to the governor.
Gen Azam Khan asked just one question with the blueprints before him “Is this road in the Master Plan?” Receiving an affirmative reply, he thought for a moment and said to the R&H engineers - “Have your wrecking machinery ready at 6 am tomorrow at both ends of the road!” Next morning, he himself flagged off the bulldozers, etc. and ordered them to roll over anyone who obstructed them, even if they waved a writ. Within a week the road was open to traffic.
2. On 7 Oct 1960, a tropical storm of tremendous velocity lashed Chittagong lasting about one hour in the late evening (wind speed is said to have exceeded 250 mph). Chittagong was totally devastated within this short time and the damage was incalculable. It is not known when Gen Azam got the news, when he arrived in Chittagong or how, but it is a fact that he had been at relief work already for a couple of hours, when the unfortunate Deputy Commissioner, in a suit and tie, turned up. I wish there was some way we could repay him.
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