March 3, 2023:
Kokrajhar: Sonu Sood, Bollywood actor and philanthropist, attended the closing ceremony of the four-day-long 1st BIKF, which concluded on March 2 at the campus of Bodoland University (BU) in Kokrajhar with the support of the BTC government .
In his short speech, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood said the International Knowledge Festival was a wonderful initiative for acquiring knowledge from experts on different fields.
Further recalling the Covid days, the actor said, his relationship with Bodoland and Assam started in 2020.
He also said that 7.5 lakh youths stranded during the Covid pandemic had connected with him and many of them still call him up to thank him for his help during the time of crisis. Sood called upon the people to give service to people in the time of need.
Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Rameswar Teli who was also present during the closing ceremony expressed gratitude to BTR Chief Pramod Boro for organising the knowledge festival.
Addressing the valedictory function, Union Minister Teli said he had never witnessed such an international festival anywhere in the region in his political life.
He said there had been proposal for expansion of Numaligargh Refinery and Bongaigaon Refinery as well. For expansion of product in Bongaigaon Refinery, land measuring 1,200 bighas has been required and discussion has been done with BTC CEM Pramod Boro, who has assured to arrange land for the expansion of plant, he said, adding that there would be many job opportunities after expansion of the refinery. He also said that survey for opening at least 10 petrol pumps (Bharat Petroleum) in BTC areas had been completed. He further said the government had proposed to set up LPG Bottling Plant at Kamardanga in Chirang district at a cost of Rs 500 crore and the works would be started soon after getting approval from the Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India.
The minister stressed setting up of Methanol plant at the Numaligargh Refinery from bamboo for reducing carbon and said similar plant would be considered to be set up in BTC area also.
BTC CEM Pramod Boro expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the organisers, Bodoland University lecturers who served as coordinators in each seminar.
The mega event witnessed flow of representatives and experts on various fields from 20 countries. During the last four days of the BIKF, there were over 25 sessions.
The valedictory function was also addressed by State minister UG Brahma, noted writer Arup Kr. Dutta and president of BSS, Taren Boro, and attended by MLAs, EMs and MCLAs of BTC.
