Curtains down on 1st International Knowledge Festival in Kokrajhar

 OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The four-day-long 1st International Knowledge Festival organized by Bodoland University (BU) at its campus in Kokrajhar with the support of the government of BTC, concluded on Thursday. The mega event witnessed flow of representatives and experts on various fields from 20 countries.

Addressing the valedictory function, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Rameswar Teli said he had not seen such an international festival anywhere in the region in his political life. He hailed the idea of BTC chief Pramod Boro of organizing such a wonderful knowledge festival where experts on various fields from different countries shared many innovative ideas.

He said there had been proposal for expansion of Numaligargh Refinery and Bongaigaon Refinery as well. For expansion of product in Bongaigaon Refinery, land measuring 1,200 bighas has been required and discussion has been done with BTC CEM Pramod Boro, who has assured to arrange land for the expansion of plant, he said, adding that there would be many job opportunities after expansion of the refinery. He also said that survey for opening at least 10 petrol pumps (Bharat Petroleum) in BTC areas had been completed. He further said the government had proposed to set up LPG Bottling Plant at Kamardanga in Chirang district at a cost of Rs 500 crore and the works would be started soon after getting approval from the Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India.

The minister stressed setting up of Methanol plant at the Numaligargh Refinery from bamboo for reducing carbon and said similar plant would be considered to be set up in BTC area also.

In his short speech, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood said the International Knowledge Festival was a wonderful initiative for acquiring knowledge from experts on different fields. He said he had come to know that the Bodos had passed tough times for over 30 years due to struggle and movements. He recalled the pain suffered by many people of the Northeast who were stranded in Maharashtra during the national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic and said he booked tickets for the stranded people of the Northeast so that they could reach home safely.

He also said that 7.5 lakh youths stranded during the Covid pandemic had connected with him and many of them still call him up to thank him for his help during the time of crisis. Sood called upon the people to give service to people in the time of need.

BTC CEM Pramod Boro extended his special thanks to the organizers, lecturers of Bodoland University who worked as coordinators in every seminar. He also thanked the departmental heads and heads of various institutions, including Assam Agriculture University, students from different universities who displayed various innovative skills in the exhibition and experts from various parts of India and other countries for sharing thoughts and ideas. The valedictory function was also addressed by State minister UG Brahma, noted writer Arup Kr. Dutta and president of BSS, Taren Boro, and attended by MLAs, EMs and MCLAs of BTC.

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