Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said the State Government would conserve the historic residence of Assamese litterateur lakshminath Bezbaroa in Sambalpur with its own funds.
The Chief Minister said this to Assam Cultural Affairs Minister Naba Kumar Doley and the Assam Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Hrishikesh Goswami while the latter two met him at the State Secretariat. Culture Minister Ashok Panda was present.
“People of Odisha have immense respect for lakshminath Bezbaroa. Our Government will renovate his residence in Sambalpur and take care of it. This will help strengthen the cultural ties between the two States,” said Patnaik.
According to a CMO release, the INTACH would be assigned to undertake the renovation work.
The State Government would spend `50 lakh initially for this purpose, sources said.
The decision of the State Government has come as a breather of Assamese people and literary fraternity as the century-old house has survived the demolition scare.
It may be noted that the State Government had decided to acquire a patch of 2.72 acres of land along with two houses belonging to Sahityarathi lakshminath Bezbaroa to construct a traffic rotary linked to a new bridge on the Mahanadi. While a portion was to be demolished to make way for the new road, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal spoke to his Odisha counterpart urging him not to demolish the property of the literary doyen.
Bezbaroa had lived in Sambalpur from 1917 to 1937. In 1924, he constructed a house on the huge patch of land. This is the place where he penned his autobiography Mor Jiwan Sowaran, apart from numerous stories and essays.