At last the nineteen traditional customary kings under the ancient Kingdom of Gobha have got something to cheer for.
The government of Assam on Saturday announced 'annual royal allowance' for the nineteen customary kings of various communities. Assam education minister Goutam Bora on Saturday distributed the bank cheques among the customary kings at the Jonbeel Mela (fair).
There are nineteen customary community kings under the Gobha Kingdom, which includes parts of three districts of present Assam - Morigaon, Nagaon and Kamrup. Jonbeel (a wetland) Mela was first organised by the Ahom kings several centuries back to discuss the prevailing political situation.
The Assam education minister said that this is for the first time that the government has announced the royal allowance and added that the kings would receive monetary allowance of something between Rs 3000 and Rs 10,000 depending on the population count under them.
Expressing his happiness over the development, King of Gobha Deep Singh said, "It is a welcome move by the government of Assam. We have been demanding this for a long time as the economic condition of all these customary kings is going down. If we do not receive any assistance from the government, it would be difficult to maintain even the tradition of hosting the annual Jonbeel Mela, which has become an important tourist destination."
Echoing similar sentiments Ahom King Susenfa Pratap Singha said that the amount would help the kings in many ways. " The Mela was initiated by our predecessors to maintain cordial relations among all communities," he said while adding that the government assistance would help the kings to fulfil the predecessors' dreams.
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