A car claimed to have been used by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the 1930s and found abandoned in the warehouse of a closed plant here has attracted visitors. The car was discovered in the now-defunct Barari Coke Plant of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in the Putki Balihari area in the second week of this month, according to the general manager of Putki Balihari mines, K C Mishra. The BCCL management realising the car's historic value shifted it to the Koyla Nagar-based guest house on July 22.
Mishra said that he sought permission of the BCCL management to preserve the car after old-timers in the area told him that Netaji used it when he visited the area between 1930 and 1940 when he was the president of the Tata Labour Association. The car has been identified as Ford Super Deluxe model and it belonged to Bose's uncle Ashok Bose who was a chemical engineer at the Barari Coke Plant of the East India Company. Netaji used to stay with him during his Dhanbad sojourn. The engine of the car is marked SD 108459F Model 6A and the chassis no is 2617 SGANT M 13220. The car's registration no is BRR 3201.
District Transport Officer R R Sharma said registration of vehicles began in the transport department in 1972-73 only. Before that it was done at the office of the superintendent of police. He said that the first series of registration number began with BRR and it might be that the old car was registered again in 1972-73. Dhanbad became a district on October 24, 1956. It was part of the then Manbhum district of Bihar. The district's headquarter was in Purulia (now in West Bengal) at that time and Dhanbad was its part.
The chairman-cum-managing director of BCCL, T K Lahiri, told reporters, "My company has not verified the historic background of the car. People claimed that Netaji used it during his stay at Dhanbad and on that basis it has been preserved."
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