Work laid by Doley & Goswami awaits Midas touch from CM

Projects with Bezbaruah and Hazarika's residences

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 3: State Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal is leaving for Odhisa and West Bengal this December to give Midas touch to the groundwork laid by State Cultural Affairs Minister ba Kumar Doley and Chief Minister’s Media Adviser Hrishikesh Goswami for preservation of Raxaraj Laxmith Bezbaruah’s residence at Sambalpur in Odisha and Bhupen Hazarika’s residence at Tollygunge in West Bengal.

Doley and Goswami did meet Odisha Chief Minister veen Patik and requested him for preservation of Bezbaruah’s house at Sambalpur as a museum. Besides agreeing to the proposal in principle, Patik also assured Doley and Goswami that his government would release Rs 50 lakh for the cause.  The scheme of things is different in case of the Tollygunge residence of Bhupen Hazarika. The residence was procured by one Gandhi three years back. Doley and Goswami met Gandhi on the residence of Dr. Hazarika.  Talking to newsmen in Guwahati on Friday, Doley and Goswami said that Gandhi had told them that he would let them know on the issue after discussing the matter with his other family members.  Doley and Goswami let the media know that one of the most viable options is to give a similar house to Gandhi in exchange. The duo, however, said that they keep their hope to get a positive response from Gandhi alive. They further said that Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal would leave for Odisha and West Bengal to five fil touches to both the issues. Dispur, they said, wants to renovate and use both the buildings as museums. They are optimistic that translation of Bezbaruah’s write-ups into Oriya will let cultural and literary exchanges between Assam and Odisha become vibrant.  Sonowal was on record saying recently that he would do all to earmark funds in the next Budget for the two projects.