Asom Satra Mahasabha general secretary Kusum Kumar Mahanta announced that the Sabha will continue making tribal bhakats as Satradhikars of various satras across the state.
Mahanta made the announcement on Friday while speaking at the fifth-anniversary celebration of NE Focus (nefocus.com) in Guwahati, where he was honoured with the NE Focus Glory Award 2021.
Speaking on the occasion, Mahanta said they have taken the decision to name and give the responsibility of various satras in Assam to people from various tribes following the ideology and footsteps of Srimanta Sankardev, the founder of Eksharan Namdharma in the state.
He said the Sabha has decided not to change the original titles of those Satradhikars, who come from tribal communities.
Mahanta informed that they have already made bhakats from Mising, Rabha, Tiwa and Koch-Rajbongshi communities as Satradhikars.
A Bodo bhakat will be soon made the Satradhikar of the Barangajuli Sankar Dev Satra in Dimakuchi of Assam’s Udalguri district, he informed.
The Satradhikar of Barangajuli Sankar Dev Satra, Hare Krishna Deb Mahanta, passed away due to age-old ailments recently.
NE Focus also conferred the Glory Award on social and human rights activist Dr Dibyajyoti Saikia, Dr Surajit Giri, an anesthesiologist, who is widely spreading awareness on snake bites and Dilwar Hussain, who is promoting agarwood plantation in Assam and doing research on it.
All the awardees spoke on their activities in their respective fields.
The news portal has also conferred the NE Focus Glory Award on Kamrup DTO Gautam Das.
A number of other social activists and media personalists including Raju Deuri, assistant editor of Northeast Now, Asomiya Pratidin’s senior journalist Chandan Duwarah were also felicitated on the occasion.
Social activist Prafulla Saikia chaired the meeting.
The editor of NE Focus, Sangeeta Saikia in brief spoke about the journey of the news portal.
Saikia also spoke about the reasons behind the selection of the personalities for the Glory Award.