GUWAHATI: Assam is on course to complete one of the largest convention centers in Eastern India, a giant leap regarding infrastructural development, by early 2025. Coming up in the city of Guwahati, this center will have a seating capacity of 5,000 seats and be amongst the first choices regarding hosting major national and international exhibitions.
The state's Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, recently toured the site of the ongoing construction and sounded optimistic on its prospect of attracting global attention. Taking to his social media handle on X, Sarma wrote, "We want to establish Guwahati as the preferred venue for national and international exhibitions. Assam is building one of Eastern India's largest convention centres with a 5,000 seating capacity. This should be ready by early 2025."
This will be more than an infrastructural wonder but a calculated attempt to reduce dependency on the USTM for big events in the state. Sarma's statement comes at a time when relations between the state government and the USTM have reached a boiling point, with the Chief Minister directly attacking the latter.
In a public address on August 12, Sarma accused USTM of propagating 'Jihad' and said that the university was causing harm to the ecosystem as well as to the future of Assam's students. He went on to criticise the building methodology of the university and said, "These have caused irreparable damages to the landscape of Guwahati with whole hills being flattened up." "They have cut the entire mountain and destroyed Guwahati. The USTM is doing 'jihad' there and harming the future of our students," Sarma alleged.
Sarma also added that his earlier visit to the USTM campus was done at the request of Jayanta Baruah, in the presence of former President Ram Nath Kovind. This explanation follows the claims that his actions were seen to be contradictory in nature, given his later public criticism against the university.
The new centre at Khanapara is being sought to be developed as a part of the increasing requirement and demand to have alternative centres in Assam. With its completion, the pressure of holding big congregations would lessen at the 5,000-seater auditorium of the USTM, which has remained a major hub for holding big congregations in the last couple of years.
As the project nears completion, it represents the aspirations of Assam to join the league of international exhibition hubs, while at the same time underlining the increasing fissures between the state and its immediate institutional neighbors.
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