Mayetree Ashram (Lilabari), Feb 18 � Four prominent Gandhian workers of Assam were presented the prestigious Sarvodaya Awards recently for their life-long contribution towards the Sarvodaya Movement initiated by pacifist Acharya Vinoba Bhave a century ago.
The award winners were Hema Bharali, Hema Prabha Bora, Lakhi Phukan and Umesh Chandra Medhi. A meeting was organised for this occasion at Mayetree Ashram, a Sarvodaya centre established by Vinoba Bhave in 1962 at Lilabari near here. The meeting was organised by the Assam Sarvodaya Mandal and Sarvodaya Trust in association with the governing body of Mayetree Ashram and the Gandhi Study Centre of Lakhimpur Girls College to mark the Sarvodaya Day and Sutranjali Divas.
Padma Shri award winner Hema Bharali was conferred the BK Bhandari-Savitree Bhandari Sarvodaya Award, Hem Prabha Bora was presented the Sant Ram Arora-Swaran Kaur Arora Sarvodaya Award, Lakhi Phukan the Ghana Kanti Phukan-Ganjendra Nath Phukan Sarvodaya Award and Umesh Chandra Medhi was presented the Ram Nagina Singh-Tileswari Devi Singh Sarvodaya Award. However, Hema Bharali could not receive the award personally at the function.
The awards were presented by Anima Hazarika, retired justice, Gauhati High Court in a solemn ceremony attended by prominent persons of North Lakhimpur. After delivering the awards, retired Justice Anima Hazarika said that the relevance of Gandhi would be there for religious tolerance, to bring parity in income among the public and to fight casteism.
Earlier, the meeting was inaugurated by Kusum Bora Mokashi, ex-official of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, Assam unit followed by mass prayer led by Champa Patar, managing trustee, Mayetree Ashram. The �sutranjali� and �Gandhi anjali� were inaugurated by Ramesh Sarma, ex-president, Assam Sarvodaya Mandal followed by the inauguration of the award presentation session by Damayanti Devi, Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, Assam unit.
The session was chaired by Hem Kakati, president, managing committee, Mayetree Ashram. The session was attended by Dr Ramji Singh and Vijay Kumar, trustee and chairman of Sarva Seva Sangh respectively. The Pappu Thakur Memorial Sarvodaya Award for youth was presented to Shiva Jyoti Tanti and Gram Dani Award was presented to Manikachuk village of Dhakuakhana of Lakhimpur district in that function.
