Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Amidst the celebration of the 93rd birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Dr. Bhupen Hazarika at different places, the Directorate of Cultural Affairs organized a special programme to pay tribute to the legendary son of Assam.
The directorate of Cultural Affairs organized a smriti tarpan programme at Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Samadhi Kshetra. After offering floral tributes at the statue of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for honouring the wish of state’s people by posthumously conferring Bharatratna on Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, “We can’t move forward by only conserving his creations and memories, but we’ve to materialize it. It’s a matter of concern that in recent time we’ve to witness some untoward incidents on this land of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, who always sang for unity and harmony. We must follow his ideals and try to make contributions towards development of the state and the country’’. Sonowal also appealed to the youth to abstain from using drugs. He urged all sections of the society to build a strong movement against drug addiction. Referring to Prime Minister Modi’s Fit India Movement, Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and other such initiatives, Sonowal said that all sections of people must join hands with the government to make initiatives successful and protect the environment for the future generations as Prime Minister Modi had been implementing schemes for making India one of the most developed countries in the world.
Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Rameswar Teli said that people must keep in mind each song of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika as they spoke of humanity and universal brotherhood.
Cultural Minister Naba Kumar Doley said that the State government was taking a lot of steps for preserving the songs and artistic creations of Dr. Hazarika so that the future generations could take inspiration from them. Along with the programme organized by directorate of Cultural Affairs, Amar Bonanee , an NGO took an initiative of planting a total 50 Chandan Plant that has been named as Bhupendra Brikshya to pay tribute to Dr. Hazarika.
Including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Cultural Minister Naba Kumar Doley, Chief adviser of AASU Samujjal Bhattacharya and many others planted the Bhupendra Brikshya. Media Advisor to the Chief Minister Hrishikesh Goswami, Legal Advisor to the Chief Minister Shantanu Bharali, MP Queen Ojha, MLAs Prasanta Phukan and Jogen Mohan, Commissioner and Secretary of Cultural Affairs department Pritam Saikia, Director of Cultural Affairs department Bishnu Kamal Bora were also present on the occasion.