| Heritage tag eludes Majuli |
| Guwahati/Jorhat, July 14: Dispurs delay in tabling a bill to provide legislative support to Majuli has cost the river island its rightful place in the World Heritage List this year. It will now have to wait till next years meeting in New Zealand to make a fresh bid for the coveted tag. Aswini Sarma, secretary general of Unesco Association, Guwahati, quoting an e-mail sent by Junko Okahashi, assistant programme specialist of the Asia Unit of the World Heritage Centre (WHC), said: The bill came too late for the ongoing session to consider it. There are certain procedures and a timetable for submission
of updated information on World Heritage List nominations. Majuli island may be considered for inscription next year. Majulis fate was discussed at the 30th session of WHC in Lithuania yesterday. It took the government nearly three years to pass a legislation to declare Majuli a culturally protected area. Assam cultural affairs minister Gautom Bora tabled the Majuli Cultural Landscape Region Bill, 2006, on Monday in the Assembly. It was passed last evening, just a few hours before Majulis case was put up before the UN body. The Telegraph had recently reported the possibility of Majuli missing the bus owing to the delay in enacting the legislation for the islands protection. The UN body did not consider Majulis case yesterday, based on a report of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). In
April, in its technical evaluation report to the UN, ICOMOS had recommended deferring the inscription to allow the state to provide legal protection and put in place a framework to protect the island. A copy of the highly confidential report is available with The Telegraph. AGP MP Arun Sarma said Majulis case would be again put up next year with renewed vigour, now that legislation has been put in place. I am sad but not disheartened, Sarma said. AJYCP general secretary Jagat Hazarika blamed the Assam government for not taking the necessary initiative in this regard. It was only a couple of days ago that the government suddenly woke up to introduce a bill for Majulis protection. The government should have taken the initiative earlier. Only the NGO, the Majuli Island Protection and Development Committee, has tried hard to present Majulis case. The 10-year-long struggle has been in vain,
Hazarika rued. This is very unfortunate. The island has all the ingredients required for a heritage site tag. The news has come as a shock for me, said Pitambar Debo Goswami, satradhikar of Auniati Satra. Majuli College professor Ananda Hazarika, too, was stunned: We were almost sure this time. We struggled a lot to collect data, which we provided to representatives from the world body. |
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