Tezpur Festival in a spot over fashion show

TEZPUR, Dec 18 — The much publicised Tezpur Festival, 2002 which concluded on Sunday last failed to evoke expected response from the people as well as from the tourist. Rather it now appears that there is an echo of criticism about the Festival. While talking to some of the leading personalities of Tezpur who, on condition of anonymity, expressed deep discontenment over the fashion show organised by the district administration, as according to them the said fashion show has spoiled the entire image of the Festival as well as the cultural heritage of Tezpur. Many of the organisations including the Tezpur unit of BJP, Sonitpur Youth Congress, BJP Yuba Janata Morcha, Tezpur Cultural Parishad and other NGO’s including women organisation came forward and said that the organisers of the Festival has got no right to show the women in alleged indignified way in the so called fashion show held at the Tezpur Station Club. It is also alleged that many of the old personalities of Tezpur have raised voice as they were not invited to the said Festival. Even the 176 years old Tezpur Christian Cemetery which housed the graveyard of the legendary Lt Charles Alexander Bruce, the founder of tea in Assam alongwith other graveyards of the European soldiers who laid down their lives in the Second World War and where many foreign tourists visit were also not remembered in this festive wave. Alleging that by organising festival, no tourists could be attracted without having proper infrastructure to place Tezpur in the tourist map, said Prithiraj Rabha, the elder son of Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha. Further talking to a cross section of people who came from neighbouring districts said that on one hand when the Tezpurian have organised Tezpur Festival by spending lakhs of rupees on the other hand all the streets were without the municipal lights. Even the roads are in a dilapidated condition despite the facts that Tezpur being one of the cleaniest and beautiful city in the North East. They even referred that the historical places of Tezpur, particularly the historic Sath Pukhuri, Gordol, Aunati Satra, Mador Satra, Bali Pukhuri Satra, Nikamul Satra, Dekargaon Ras Mandir etc having the tradition of carrying the Sankari Kala Kristi have been ignored to focus in the Festival. Besides that the historic Rudrapath, Haleshwar Devalay, Bhairabi Than, Ketekshwar, Sukleshwar, Tingeswar etc were too also being ignored from the purview of the festival. Meanwhile critics have raised a big question mark whether the Sonitpur district administration was right in patronising such Festival in the name of attracting tourists instead of doing development work.