As many as 270 urns containing soil from different parts of Assam collected during Amrit Kalash Yatra under the ‘Meri Maati Mera Desh’ campaign will reach the national capital on October 28, a government official said here on Friday.
A total of 540 urns with soil were collected during the yatra. An equal number of urns are stored at the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra which will be later used in the foundation stone laying ceremony of the state’s proposed largest university in Assam’s Gohpur.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flagged off the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express carrying urns filled with soil at the Guwahati Railway Station in the early hours on Friday. Altogether 285 people will arrive here with the urns, the official said.
Assam Cultural Affairs Minister Bimal Borah and senior officials will receive those accompanying the urns at the New Delhi Railway Station. A total of six coaches have been wrapped with banners of Amrit Kalash Yatra, he added.
“Plans are on the anvil to take out a colourful cultural procession with soil from 35 districts of Assam to a place near the National War Memorial, where an Amrit Vatika will be developed. This garden will act as a shared heritage with soil and saplings from every corner of the country,” Sabir Nishat, Deputy Director, Assam information Centre, New Delhi said.
He said in order to make the event hassle-free, senior officials of the state cultural affairs department held a meeting with representatives of various Assam-based organisations from Delhi-NCR at the conference hall of Assam House here on Thursday.
As part of the ‘Meri Maati Mera Desh’ campaign, the Amrit Kalash Yatra carrying soil in 7,500 urns from every corner of the country is expected to reach the national capital from October 28 to 30 to mark the culmination of the campaign. The soil from all corners of the country will be used for creation of the Amrit Vatika in honour of our bravehearts who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation.
The Amrit Kalash Yatra kicked off in Assam on September 20 and continued till October 26 in every village and municipal ward with people coming out in large numbers to take part in the campaign.
The chief minister participated in a programme at Dharapur in Guwahati this month, and made a clarion call to the people of the state to make the campaign a resounding success.