Denizens demand Bharat Ratna for Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das posthumously
Dr.Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, October 9: Celebrating 146th birth anniversary of Pandit Utkalamani Goapbandhu Das at Gandhi Park, Rayagada, the denizens including Minister Jagannath Saraka, who joined as Chief Guest, Rayagada Municipality Chairman Mahesh Pattanaik as Guest of Honour & members from many other outfits namely Odisha Adibasi Mancha, Seva Samaj, Saksham, Bhinnakshyam Mahasangha, several media associations, Society for Fast Justice, Zilla Sarvodaya Mandal, Rayagada Nagarika Mancha, Walkers’ Club, etc submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Pattanaik through Jagannath Saraka, Minister, ST, SC, OBC & Minorities and Law. After the floral tribute to Gopabandhu, Gandhi, Sashtri and Vinoba by the dignitaries and the guests, the inmates of Seva Samaj chanted Sarva Dharma Prarthana.
The memorandum lamented that though till date Bharat Ratna have been awarded to 48 very eminent persons out of which 14 have been felicitated posthumously, nobody from Odisha has received this most coveted honour. The local gentries namely Dr.D K Mohanty, Dr.Badal Tah, Gopi Sahu, Bidulata Huika, Bijay Kumar Baboo, Rajendra Kishore Panda, Pradip Das, Deepak Kumar Prusty, Gopa Ranjan Boxipatra, Rabindra Patakhandal, Premendra Parichha, Gopinath Gouda, Siba Gouda, Bijaya Maharana, Jalendra Bachheli, Subrat Chaudhury, Shyam Das, Bidya Panda, Vidyasagar, Nagaraju & others have requested CM Naveen Pattanaik to recommend Gopabandhu’s name to GOI for Bharat Ratna. Dr.D K Mohanty said that celebration of martyrs of independence like Gopabandhu must be observed in a grand way by the district administration like that of Gandhi & Sashtri Jayanti. He has appealed the public to observe the anniversaries of the sons of the soil in a befitting manner in the future.
DIPRO Basanta Pradhan graced the occasion as a special guest of honour. Raghunath Pattanaik, District Correspondent of The Samaj daily news paper and Bijaya Das of National Human Welfare Board Trust coordinated the entire event.
