GUWAHATI, Sept 30 � Voluntary organisation Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC) today alleged that the State Government has been trying to cover up its failure to respond to the request of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) representative in India to sign an MoU for preparing the dossier on the island afresh. The MIPADC is engaged in the bid to wrest the UNESCO World Heritage Site status for river island Majuli for the past about one decade.
The voluntary organisation has reacted to yesterday�s statement of Cultural Affairs Minister Pranati Phukan in which she reportedly blamed the trend of modernizing the Majuli structures for the failure of the bids to get the World Heritage Site status for the island.
It needs mention here that the UNESCO representative to India Shigeru Aoyagi had met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on November 25, 2013 at the latter�s residence here and subsequent to the discussion held during that meeting he wrote a letter to the Chief Minister on December 9, 2013.
In the letter, the UNESCO official pleaded for the Chief Minister�s consideration of a proposal for signing an MoU for collaboration between the Assam Government and the UNESCO �for developing a policy and strategy for cultural and tourism promotion which may include the assistance for the nomination of Majuli island for the World Cultural Heritage.�
With his letter, the UNESCO representative enclosed a similar MoU signed between the Government of West Bengal and UNESCO and the subsequent Funds-in-trust Agreement.
