Vikramshila fest triggers charges of govt apathy

Bhagalpur: The district administration on Saturday inaugurated a two-day-long Vikramshila Mahotsav, an annual government-sponsored event for which the state has this time allotted Rs 30 lakh.

Early on Saturday, Chetna Humanity Services, a local body, and the local administration organised a heritage walk to mark the upcoming Bihar Divas and the foundation day of Bhagalpur. Gajadhar Bhagat College, Naugachia, a constituent college of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, also organised a seminar on Saturday on the archaeological importance of Bhagalpur.

Bhagalpur district magistrate Adesh Titarmare and other bureaucrats jointly inaugurated the programme near the half-excavated ruins of Vikramshila Buddha Mahavihara on Saturday morning.

Ramvilash Paswan, RJD MLA from Pirpainty, the sole public representative present there, lambasted Nitish Kumar for ignoring Vikramshila for long.

Local-level public representatives, mainly pramukhas echoed Ramvilash and accused the state government of putting hurdles for the development of Vikramshila.

Vikramshila Nagrik Samity, a local body fighting for the cause of Vikramshila, accused the government of making such formalities just to utilise its funds. Tension has been mounting in Kahalgaon and its adjoining areas mainly because of the government’s hostile attitude towards Vikramshila. “Such cheap type of function is a classic example of government apathy,” said Nutan Devi, pramukh of Pirpainty block.

People here are demanding immediate inclusion of Vikramshila into the Buddha circuit as well as in World Heritage site of Unesco.

“The Centre is ready to gift a central university here in the name of Vikramshila but the state government which never wants development of this ancient seat of learning, has been putting obstacles while complicating land acquisition for the proposed central varsity,” alleged Pawan Gupta, a social worker in Kahalgaon.

However, Chetna Humanity Services, a local body, in joint collaboration with the local administration, organised a heritage walk, mainly to celebrate the upcoming Bihar Diwas as well as the establishment day of Bhagalpur.

People from different walks of lives took main thoroughfares and visited places with historic significance.

“It was just to create awareness among people, particularly among youngsters, about the importance of the heritage surrounding them,” said Chetna Tripathi Singh, the chairperson of Chetna Humanity Services.

A seminar on the archaeological importance of Bhagalpur was organised at Gajadhar Bhagat College, Naugachia. Arbindo Singha Roy, an archaeologist and a teacher from Ranchi University who was the chief guest, said how Bhagalpur was known as the fourth important place in the name of Champa Maha Janpad.

He, through a PowerPoint presentation, provided detail of the research on Champa Maha Janpad, which he and the directorate of archaeology under the state government recently concluded.

Courtesy: The Telegraph