guwahati the sadhana griha or work place of lakshminath bezbaroa the doyen of assamese literature which was in ruins on the banks of the mahanadi in sambalpur in odisha has been renovated and restored would be thrown open to the people soon the poet had two houses in sambalpur one for his writing and business and the other for residing renovation and restoration of the residential house will begin in octoberbringing the sadhana griha back to its original status was a big challenge for intach the heritage conservation trust which was entrusted with the restoration job by the odisha and assam governments only remnants were left of the original structureconservationists had to go back in history consult books to recreate the house mallika mitra director of intach conservation institute bhubaneswar who is overseeing the restoration work told toi on saturday that the first house will be handed over to the government in the next three weeks we have used lime plaster with traditional plaster materials for the walls only one old window was intact and we used it as a reference to reconstruct the other windows our attempt was to support the roof with iron but it will be cladded with compatible materials like synthetic thatch or terracotta tiles to match the original structure she saidthe sadhana griha has three rooms with a central hall mitra said the rooms have been designed as three galleries dedicated to his life literary creations and family the other house will have more space for audiovisual display and a reading room along with other facilities said mitra adding that they want to highlight his family connections with rabindranath tagore bezbaroa married pragya sundari devi tagores niece the other house where the family lived is spacious and will showcase cultural exchanges between the two states she addedafter a long legal battle between the owner of the heritage plot and the odisha government the latter got possession of the land in 2017 the prolonged legal battle starting in the 1980s had nothing to do with the sentiments of the people of assam where bezbaroa is held in high regard his memory was resurrected and the heritage plot came under the spotlight when the government began the construction of the second bridge over the mahanadithe priceless properties replete with the memories of a great poetnovelist who had ushered in the assamese renaissance were lying unnoticed for decades it was then that the former chief minister of assam sarbananda sonowal and naveen patnaik his odisha counterpart came together to preserve this treasure trovesambalpur resident deepak panda an author and historian took up the cudgels on behalf of both the states to preserve the houses when he was a child in 1968 he learned about the poet at a convention organised by the asam sahitya sabha in sambalpur people were initially against my decision to seek preservation of the place and even led rallies he saidoriginally the land measured 278 acres when a christian missionary j g pike took