Socio-cultural groups fume at closure of Silchar Door Darshan Kendra, rent spike of auditorium

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: The decision of the Centre to close down Silchar Door Darshan Kendra and abnormal hike in the Gandhi Bhavan auditorium by Silchar Municipal Board have come as a shock in the social and cultural groups. These decisions have been described as uncalled for and a retrograde measure against cultural activities. Representatives of these cultural bodies at a meeting held in the premises of a primary school under the chairmanship of well known social activist Pradip Dutta Roy discussed the immediate strategy to put a brake on the twin moves

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a notification has decided to close all programmes of Silchar DDK from March 31, 2022. The meeting decided to discuss the issue of Doordarshan with MP Dr Rajdeep Roy, presently out of the town and send memorandum to authorities concerned at New Delhi. Members of cultural groups met J R Lalsim, Chief Executive Officer of Municipal Board, and prevailed over her to rationalise the sudden hike in the rent of the Gandhi Bhavan auditorium. The jump in rent from Rs 2000 to Rs 8000 has been a shocker and a dampening measure for cultural bodies.

Two more cultural bodies, Sammilit Sanskritik Manch and Barak Valley Artists Forum, jointly submitted a memorandum to J R Lalsim and Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli on Wednesday against the hike in rent of the auditorium and demanded its restoration to its original status. But, there was no specific assurance from the Chief Executive Officer. The cultural bodies together have now decided to hit the streets and launch long drawn agitation. Those who articulated their views and offered suggestions included Nikhil Paul, Chitra Bhanu Bhowmik, Kamal Chakraborty, Sabyasachi Purkayastha, Dipankar Chanda, Bibhas Deb, Rajkumar Paul, Swarnali Choudhury, Joy Bordia, Pradip Das, Paritosh Chakraborty, Jayanta Das, Joydeep Bhattacharya among others.

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