GUWAHATI, Aug 10 � Preparation of the nomination dossier for the World Heritage Site status of Majuli is in the final stage. It is expected that the document would be completed by the last week of the current month.
In the meantime, it is expected that a team of UNESCO officials will visit Majuli in this connection by the second week of September next. The team is also expected to meet the Governor and the Chief Minister of the State, sources said.
Stating this, sources in the Majuli Landscape Management Authority told this correspondent that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the Government of India nodal agency for the purpose, has engaged conservation architect Dr Suryanarayan Murthy of Hyderabad for preparation of the draft dossier, which is being placed before the UNESCO Heritage Committee by end January 2012.
It needs mention here that for some trifle matters, Majuli, which is known to be the largest inhabited river island on earth, missed the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag on two previous occasions in 2006 and 2008.
The World Heritage Site status of Majuli has remained a longstanding expectation of the State�s people. In keeping with the popular expectation, the State government had set up the Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority in 2006 with the Chief Secretary of the State as its Chairman and the Upper Assam Commissioner as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
This management authority has floated a global tender for engagement of a consultant agency of international repute to prepare a comprehensive development plan, covering all aspects of Majuli and its adjoining areas like Dhakuwakhana, parts of Dhemaji and Sivasagar districts, Jorhat and parts of Sonitpur district.
This was done as per the direction of the Planning Commission of India which came in the wake of the requests by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Governor JB Patnaik and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, sources said.
The management authority, in a ground preparing discussion here yesterday, decided to launch its own website and to upload all the Majuli-related data to it.
For the purpose, a committee was set up with the CEO of the management authority as its chairman and Brahmaputra Board Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department Secretary, a representative from the Cultural Affairs Department, Jorhat Deputy Commissioner, Majuli Sub-divisional Officer and the secretary of the NGO Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC), as its members.
Dr Murthy has been insisting the management authority should have its own website with all the relevant data on the river island.
Participants of the discussion held yesterday also pointed out the need to declare Majuli as an eco-sensitive zone by the Union Environment and Forest Ministry. Former Union Environment and Forest Minister Joyram Ramesh mooted this idea during his visit to the island last year. The participants opted for moving the Union government on the issue.
Some of the participants were also of the opinion that cultural troupes from the island, the nerve centre of the Assamese Vaishnavite culture and a mini-museum of ethnic cultures, should be sent to other parts of the country and abroad as well for propagation of the cultural treasure the islanders have been preserving for centuries.
They also expect the departments concerned to work unitedly to facilitate the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli.
A proposal was also mooted by some participants of the discussion to set up a separate directorate for the sattra institutions.
All the decisions are likely to become the focal points of discussion in the next formal meeting of the management authority.
It needs mention here that the MIPADC initiated a movement for wresting the UNESCO World Heritage Site status to Majuli for the first time in 1998. It submitted a nomination on its own to the UNESCO, through the Governments of Assam and India, the same year.
The UNESCO, after examining this dossier, had declared Majuli�s case as a fit one for the purpose and granted US $ 20,000 for preparation of a detailed nomination dossier. Since then Majuli�s attempt has been on for wresting the World Heritage Site status.
