BARPETA, July 31 - The Bahari Satra Management Committee has requested the Chief Minister to take steps to protect the historic Bahari Satra from the onslaught of unabated land erosion by the Brahmaputra.
A team of the Satra Management Committe met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at his office at the Janata Bhawan recently and apprised him about the latest position regarding erosion at Bahari area in Barpeta district.
The team informed the Chief Minister that as many as 73 villages are facing extinction and the existence of the historical Bahari Satra established by the great saint Harideva is threatened by massive erosion by the mighty Brahmaputra. They requested the Chief Minister to protect the Satra at any cost by adopting long-term effective measures to check erosion.
The delegation also handed over a memorandum to him demanding eviction of illegal encroachment in Satra land, eviction of encroachers from Bahari Bazaar, declaration of State holiday on the death anniversary of Mahapurush Harideva, besides a permanent solution of erosion.
The Chief Minister lent a patient ear to the delegation and directed the Officer on Special Duty to take immediate measures to check erosion. Besides, he also directed expediting communication with the Centre to have a pending scheme amounting to Rs 84 crore sanctioned.
A team of people originally from Bahari but residing in greater Guwahati, also met the Chief Minister the same day with similar demands.
As the Brahmaputra is fast approaching Bahari Satra, if immediate preventive steps are not taken, it will soon be lost to oblivion like Maneri or Mayanbari, the two Satras of this area, which were gobbled up by swirling waters of the river in the recent past.
