Nagon (Assam), 13 June (HS): A shocking case has come to light regarding encroachment on the land of the Satras of Assam. The issue came into discussion after the commission constituted to review and examine the Satras land problem and submitted a detailed report to Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma on June 9. The Chief Minister shared this topic on social media on Friday, after which this serious matter of encroachment on the lands of the Satras came into the limelight.

Reacting in this regard, Satradhikar Amlan Jyoti Dev Goswami of Batadrava Narova Satra said, The information shared by the Chief Minister is really frightening. Even today the lands of many Satras are in the possession of encroachers. How and at what level this happened should be analyzed and the government should take steps to save the Satras culture by freeing these lands. It is noteworthy that Kobaikata Satra is a historical place associated with the memory of the great man Srimanta Shankardev, which is located in the southern part of the Batadrava police station area. Since the year 1983, this Satra is almost in a neglected state and currently exists with the help of a small Namghar and a few lamp lighters on just two kattha of land.

Till 1983, this Satra used to reverberate with the Nam-kirtan with the presence of about 200 families and Bhakti-Vaishnav followers. But gradually people left it and settled in other places. Now the commission has revealed that 46 bighas of land of Kobaikata Satra is occupied by encroachers.

Similarly, many other historical Satras of the Batadrava area are also in the grip of encroachment. Rampur Satra, where Srimanta Shankardev received his early education, is also in trouble in the same way. This session was once the owner of 600 bighas of land, but now due to government neglect and irregularities of the revenue department, only 297 bighas of land is left in its name, which is currently under encroachment.

Apart from this, encroachment has been confirmed on 500 bighas of grazing reserve land of Balisatra located in the north of Batadrava police station area, 500 bighas of Upar Dumdumiya session, 500 bighas of Rajabari grazing reserve, Shalguri Lateri session, Panbari session land and Balisatra weekly market land. In many places, encroachment has been done by building permanent buildings.

Now everyone's eyes are fixed on what concrete steps will be taken by the state government in these matters.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash