Jorhat, Aug. 2: Several organisations of Majuli and xatradhikars of well-known xatras
submitted memoranda to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pranab
Mukherjee, chief minister Tarun Gogoi and governor J.B Patnaik through
the Majuli SDO (civil) today.
The groups demanded the dossier to be
submitted by the Centre to Unesco in support of the claim for granting
World Heritage Site status to the river island to be error-free,
authentic and inclusive of all information about its cultural heritage.
Earlier this year, Paris-based-World
Heritage Centre (a Unesco body), had sent back the Majuli dossier citing
inadequate information and errors in the document.
Conservationist architect S.N. Murthy’s
Hyderabad-based firm, M/S. Kshetra had prepared the dossier. It was
subsequently asked by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to rectify
the three lacunae pointed out in the dossier in order to send the
revised document to the centre by September.
The 1,256-page dossier called “The River
Island of Majuli, Cultural Landscape and Living Traditions in Mid-stream
of the Brahmaputra in Assam”, comprises six volumes.
Abakash Majuli, an NGO involved in
development activities on the island, has taken the initiative to
prepare the memorandum. Four xatradhikars of Majuli xatras — Pitambar
Devagoswami of Auniati Xatra, Narayan Chandra Goswami of Natun
Kamalabari Xatra, Janardhan Devagoswami of Kamalabari Xatra, Haridev
Goswami of Garmur Xatra — and the Majuli unit of Xatra Mashasabha, have
signed the memorandum.
Principals and students’ union of four
colleges of the island, too, signed the memorandum, which are Pub Majuli
College, Jengraimukh College, Rangasahi College and Pitambar Dev
College.
Amlandeep Borah, president of Abakash Majuli, told The Telegraph,
they wanted to draw the attention of occupants of top offices of the
country towards the island, as even after two successive Prime Ministers
announcing protection of Majuli from erosion and doing everything
possible for its inclusion in the World Heritage Site list, things had
not materialised.
“Unesco held a meeting at St Petersburg
this year to declare inclusion of new sites into the list but Majuli
lost the opportunity because of several errors in the dossier, which
should be corrected and all necessary information about the island
included in the rectified document,” Borah said.
The memoranda stated that since a decade
back, people of Majuli have been demanding World Heritage Site status
for the island, which has remained unfulfilled.
“The dossiers on Majuli submitted by the
government to Unesco several times earlier have not been able to present
the case strongly and effectively. This year too, the dossier was sent
back during the preliminary screening. Therefore, we pray to your honour
to initiate the process so the lasting protection of the island from
flood and erosion and its inclusion in the World Heritage Site List is
possible at the earliest,” it stated.
“The island is eroding alarmingly and
threatening to near extinction. The Brahmaputra Board working for its
protection has been a great failure for lack of proper plans, technology
and character,” the memoranda added.
-Abakash Majuli
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