GUWAHATI: Odisha government has committed to preserve the residence of Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbarua, doyen of Assamese literature, situated at Sambalpur in that state and will borne the expenditure for this initiative.
Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday assured Media Adviser to the Assam Chief Minister Hrishikesh Goswami and Assam’s Cultural Affairs Minister, Naba Kumar Doley who have been entrusted by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to carry forward the initiatives to preserve the residence of Assamese literary doyen at Sambalpur. They called on the Orissa Chief Minister at his office in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
Cultural Minister Doley and Media Adviser Goswami also formally handed over a letter of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal addressed to his Odisha counterpart.
During the meeting held on a cordial note, Chief Minister Patnaik said that he has immense respect for Sahityarathi Bezbarua and also acknowledged the important role played by Bezbarua to foster a healthy cultural and literary relationship between the people of both Assam and Odisha apart from his immense contribution to Assamese literature and language. For this reason, the Government of Odisha has taken the matter of preservation of Sahityarathi’s residence very sincerely and all steps in this regard would be taken, Patnaik said.
At the end of the meeting, Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister of Odisha Ashok Kumar Panda declared that Rupees fifty lakhs would be released by Odisha Government in the first phase for the preservation work of Bezbarua’s residence and more fund would be released in subsequent phases, if needed. Instruction has already been issued to the state administration in Odisha to prepare a detailed project report for preservation of Bezbarua’s residence.
