While the scheme was launched in Guwahati on Tuesday with the government distributing Rs 4 crore among 63 such satras, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the Department of Archaeology has prepared a scheme worth of Rs 96.59 crore -- funded by the Union Culture Ministry -- for covering 135 satras in the first phase.

Satras, the earliest of which were established by the great 16th century Assamese socio-religious reformer Sankaradeva, have remained nerve-centres for socio-cultural activities for the people of the Brahmaputra Valley with the typical dance and music forms developed and propagated by these institutions being recognized as 'satriya' dance and music by the Sangit Natak Akademi a few years ago.

Satras are also repositories of knowledge, both spiritual as well as traditional, apart from serving as educational centres for their respective followers.

The Asam Satra Mahasabha, the apex body of satras in the state, though happy with the financial grant, is more concerned about encroachment of satra land. "Land belonging to several satras, including the Alipukhuri satra at Bardowa where Sankaradeva was born, has been encroachment upon by suspected Bangladeshi infiltrators for years now. The government has failed to evict these encroachers," said Bhadra Krishna Goswami, president of the Satra Mahasabha.