DHUBRI, Sept 8 - Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi visited the Madhupur Satra, located in Coochbehar district of West Bengal on Friday and laid the foundation stone of two different projects for the development of the historic satra and to attract more tourists.
The Governor, laid the foundation stone for �Infrastructure Development of Cultural Tourism Centre at Sri Sri Madhupur Satra, Cooch Behar under Untied Fund. Under this project, a two- storied �athithasala� (guest house) with a capacity to host 500 guests will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore and a �bhog ghar� (dining hall), at a cost of Rs 1 crore will be constructed in the premises of the Satra within one year.
Mukhi, on his visit to the Satra also launched a project for the �Protection & Development of Madhupur Satra, Cooch Behar� worth Rs 1 crore. Under this project, a two storied school-cum- cultural centre, �bhakat hati� and �gosai chora�, conference hall and office-cum-store, art-cum patface museum, toilet and water facilities, �doul griha� and septic tanks will be constructed, within a year. This project also includes renovation of the existing Kirtan Ghar and development of the Satra pond.
It may be mentioned that almost 700 bighas of land was donated to the Satra by King Naranarayan out of which only 70 bighas is today in the possession of the Satra and out of that only 17 bighas is used by the Satra as their premises. All the projects launched by the Governor will be constructed on this 17-bigha land.
However, the Satradhikar of the Madhupur Satra, Lakhi Kanta Mahanta also handed over a memorandum to the Governor, demanding to free it from encroachment, make arrangements for security of the Satra and to make arrangements to free the historic Satra free from financial crisis.
