GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - Seeking the Odisha Government�s intervention in preserving the historic Sambalpur residence of Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaroa as a heritage site for Assam, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) today submitted a memorandum to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik. The AASU delegation also called on the Sambalpur Deputy Commissioner today and had a discussion with him on the matter.
The AASU delegation, which has been camping at Sambalpur, visited Bezbaroa�s residence yesterday and interacted with local residents and organisations as part of the student body�s effort to reclaim the residence and develop it as a heritage for Assam.
In its memorandum to the Chief Minister, the AASU referred to the historical relations between Assam and Odisha in the spheres of culture and literature since the days of the 15th-century Assamese saint Srimanta Sankaradeva and said that preserving Bezbaroa�s residence as a heritage site would further boost ties between the two states and their peoples.
�We conveyed to the Chief Minister that building a heritage monument after Bezbaroa will facilitate greater literary and cultural interaction between Assam and Odisha. We also said that the Odisha Government and the Assam Government should hold talks on the issue and pave the way for the creation of a heritage site,� AASU vice president Pulak Chetia said.
Bezbaroa, who spent a substantial part of his life in Odisha in connection with his business, penned many of his immortal works at the Sambalpur residence. Unfortunately, the residence and the office of the father figure of Assamese literature spread over an area of two-and-a-half acres lies in a dilapidated state due to neglect over the decades.
The AASU also demanded that the Assam Government took up the matter of preserving the Sahityarathi�s residence with the Odisha Government immediately.
�It is heartbreaking that a site associated with Assam�s literary and national heritage should be languishing for want of attention,� Chetia said.
