GUWAHATI, June 27 - Speakers at the annual general meeting of the voluntary organisation Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC) held here on June 23 last laid stress on the revival of the Brahmaputra Board. They also called for urgent steps to make the Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA) functional.
Speakers at the meeting, presided over by MIPADC chairman and former MP Dr Arun Kumar Sarma, also laid stress on keeping the cultural heritage of the people of this largest inhabited river island of the world intact, while implementing its developmental projects. They also called for a similar approach while implementing the projects related to development of tourism in this island. The intrinsic cultural values of the people of Majuli should not be allowed to be affected by any developmental projects, they opined.
Moreover, they said, the Government should initiate speedy measures to declare Majuli as an organic district taking into consideration its virgin atmosphere.
Underlining the urgent need to protect the island from the erosion of the mighty Brahmaputra, the speakers also called for a proper study on the impact of the existing ferry stations of the island on the anti-erosion measures undertaken to protect its banks. Some of them suggested that there should be only one ferry station at the Aphalamukh stable bank stretch, to connect the island with Neamatighat. Some of the existing ferry stations, like the one at Kamalabari are impacting the anti-erosion projects adversely, they said.
Some speakers laid stress on initiating advanced measures, jointly with the authorities concerned, to save this river island, regarded to be the core of Neo-Vaishnavism and a mosaic of the ethnic cultures of the State, from the climate change-related lurking threats.
Some speakers lamented the fact that despite the Satriya dance attaining the stature of a major Indian classical dance form, the borgeets and the instruments connected with it have not been accorded the status respectively of the major Indian vocals and major Indian musical instruments.
The meeting constituted an eleven-member executive committee of the MIPADC for the 2019-'22 four-year term, with Dr Arun Sarma as the chairman and Dhrubajit Saikia as the general secretary.
