Assam: Historical Narowa Kuji Satra still to get annuity

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Assam government acquired around 484 bighas of land belonging to Shri Shri Narowa Kuji Satra (Baishnabpur Than) of Morigaon district way back in 1969, but the annuity due to the xatra is still to be paid. The xatra is now barely surviving on a plot of land measuring only 4 bighas. This ancient xatra was established centuries ago, in 1650.

Recently, the Satra Commission constituted by the state government paid a visit to the Shri Shri Narowa Kuji Satra. During this visit, the long-pending matter of the annuity came to light. It is to be noted that the Satra Commission was set up by the present government to look into the landed property of the xatras and to find out if any encroachment on any xatra property has been made. The chairman of the Commission is AGP MLA Pradip Hazarika, and the other two members are MLA Rupak Sharma and Mrinal Saikia of the BJP. The Commission has already paid a visit to a number of xatras, submitted an interim report before Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and is now working on the final report.

The present Xatradhikar of the Shri Shri Narowa Kuji Satra is Nityananda Dev Goswami. During the Commission’s visit to the xatra, Xatradhikar Goswami and other people connected with the xatra shed light on the issues plaguing the hallowed institution.

Speaking to The Sentinel, Xatradhikar Goswami said, “Our centuries-old xatra has only four bigha of land at present. Apart from the Than, we have a museum and a guest house situated on this small piece of land. On March 6, 1969, the Assam government passed an order and acquired 484 bigha of land belonging to our xatra. The land was acquired under the Assam State Acquisition of Lands Belonging to Religious or Charitable Institutions of Public Nature Act 1959 (Assam Act IX of 1961). According to the provisions of the Act, when any land is acquired from any religious institution, the government has to pay an annuity. Although some xatras whose land was acquired are getting this annual payment, our xatra has not received any annuity till now. Our precious land was taken away, and we were not compensated. We are in dire straits financially. Now, either the government should return our land or hand over to us the Kuji Beel. We are placing this plea before the Satra Commission.”

He further said, “We had brought this issue to the attention of the government several times earlier. But, no result has been seen until now. This time, we hope the Satra Commission will take this long-pending matter seriously and do the needful to resolve it at the earliest.”

The Assam Act IX of 1961 was brought into force with effect from January 10, 1963, and the lands of many xatras were acquired by the then governments through the Act.

The centuries-old Shri Shri Narowa Kuji Satra was established by the late Damodar Ata in 1650, during the reign of the 20th Ahom king Jayadhwaj Singha. Damodar Ata’s lineage can be directly linked to Mahapurush Srimanta Xankardev.

 Also Read: The majestic journey of Sri Sri Uttar Kamlabari Satra (sentinelassam.com)

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