Vying for World Heritage status – Jorhat Gymkhana Club

Jorhat, Aug 4: It began as a place of recreation for bored British tea-planters, but after 120 years it is vying for a place in the prestigious list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

The Jorhat Gymkhana Club boasts of an impressive accomplishment: it has the world’s third oldest golf course. It has a huge 18-hole golf course and a unique tradition of annual pony racing popularly known as the Jorhat Race. The first plane ever in the North-East landed in its grounds in 1928, and the first jeep in Assam was also displayed at the club’s ground.

If the claim is successful, Jorhat Gymkhana Club will be the third among other World Heritage Sites in the state after the Kaziranga National Park and the Manas National Park.

The club’s ground that spans an area of 180 bighas has been tended well over the years. It also hosted the Tea Tourism Festival in 2002, and several foreign dignitaries and tourists went back hugely impressed.

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