Assam mulls permanent 'Satra Aayog' to look after Satras

Guwahati, Jun 9 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday announced that the government will set up a permanent 'Satra Aayog' to look after the welfare of these Vaishnavite monasteries located across the state.

At a meeting of the temporary Satra Aayog formed to study the issues of these historic institutions, Sarma said the permanent body of the Aayog will work to lend sustainability to the Satras.

"Our government will constitute a permanent Satra Aayog, which will be empowered financially, administratively to work for the benefits and welfare of the satras. The Aayog will work on forming a 25-year long vision plan to revamp the institutional framework of the Satras," he added.

Sarma said that the Satras are confronted with various problems, but no other government took the initiative to address the issues like the BJP has done.

"The government took steps to save the Satras and lend vitality to them. We formed this Satra Aayog to find out the problems, especially land encroachment that grapples the Satras across the state," he added.

The Satra Aayog, formed for reviewing and assessing the problems of the Satra lands in Assam, submitted its final report to Sarma.

The Aayog, formed on November 24 of 2021 with AGP MLA Pradip Hazarika as its Chairman and BJP MLAs Mrinal Saikia and Rupak Sarma as its members, visited 126 satras, and examined the existing problems there and gave several recommendations in the report.

Thanking the Satra Aayog for its final report, the CM said: "In the socio-cultural life of Assam, submission of the final report marks an important day for the state. I consider myself happy to receive the final report of the Aayog, which reviewed and assessed the problems of Satra lands necessitated because of encroachment.

"The government will study the report very minutely and exhaustively to meet its recommendations." Sarma also said that in the socio-cultural and spiritual life of the state, Satras play an important role. He said that Srimanta Sankardeva, by introducing neo-vaishnavism, took a crucial role in setting up the Satras for discussing and preaching culture and spiritual values across the state.

Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva was an Assamese saint-scholar, social-religious reformer, poet, playwright and a towering figure in the cultural and religious history of 15th-16th century in Assam.

Sarma further said that youths should come to the fold of the Satra culture and lend more vitality to them.

"The bigger Satras should take upon themselves to help the small Satras. They should also indulge in transformative works to empower all the satras to spread the tenets of vaishnavism. It will be very difficult for the government to empower all the 922 satras," he added.

The CM appealed to the people of Assam to work collectively to protect the Satra lands and help them work for the mission they were established. PTI TR NN