Madhupur Xatra broke: Madhupur Xatra Samiti (MXS)

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Talking to The Sentinel on Sunday, Madhupur Xatra Samiti (MXS) general secretary Kumar Deepak Das said, “Back in the day, Madhupur Xatra was quite self-sustaining with huge landed property donated to it by the Kooch King. The 14-bigha pond of the xatra alone did earn around Rs 1-2 lakh annually till 1993-94 when it was managed by the Xatra itself. However, after that the West Bengal took the pond under its Panchayat & Rural Development (P&RD) department. Thus the Xatra has not been getting any income from the pond. Most of the landed property of the Xatra has been dotted with houses and buildings, including educational institutions. The Xatra had to compromise much on landed property, without getting any alternative land allotted to it.”

Das further said, “I’ve requested Dispur to take up the matter with its counterparts in West Bengal. I’ve also made such pleas to the West Bengal government many a time. However, there’s no positive step from either of the two governments.”

Giving details of the poor financial condition which the prestigious Xatra has been under, Das said, “The xatra samiti provides only Rs 2,000 to the xatra monthly. This amount is not even enough to foot the electricity bill. The xatra is badly in the need of a steady flow of funds from the Assam Government. The expenditure of the Xatra surpasses its income to a large extent.”

On the stalled schemes of the Xatra, Das said, “The construction of the three-storey guest house of the Xatra has been stalled as the xatra samiti isn’t satisfied with the site selected for it. The site selected for the guest house is in front of the Harihar Atar Bhitha (the seat of a great vaishnav). If the three-storey building comes up there, it will dwarf the respected Harihar Atar Bhitha, and it doesn’t augur well in Vaishnavite parlance. With non-vaishnavite people in surroundings, the vaishnavite ambience of the Xatra has been badly desecrated.”

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