The Assam Government has announced an assistance of fifty lakh rupees for development of the Srimanta Sankardeva Cultural Centre at Puri in Odisha. This was disclosed by the State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi while attending a function in the temple city of Puri on Thursday. He said Assam has an age-old relation with Odisha in socio-culture and literature.Mr. Gogoi said the great Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Shankardeva united the people of both the states through the religion he cultivated. He termed Srimanta Sankardeva a great social reformer who developed scientific ideology and spread the messages of co-existence between man and nature in both the states of Assam and Odisha. State Governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik, who hails from Odisha, also attended the function.