Thousands of people and family members on Tuesday bade tearful adieu to Tirtol BJD MLA Bishnu Charan Das, whose body moved to different places in Jagatsinghpur district before cremation at Swargadwar in Puri.
Notably, Das passed away at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening.
A large number of moist-eyed women converged at the Biridi BJD office, 15 km from here, and paid floral tributes to him. Thereafter, the body was moved in a procession to Raghunathpur block where hundreds of people and party workers paid tributes to him.
Then, the procession moved to the Tirtol BJD office where people gathered in large numbers and paid last respect to Das.
At district headquarters here, guard of honor was paid in front of the district Collector’s office. Collector SK Mohapatra, SP Prakash R, Ministers Ranendra Pratap Swain and Raghunandan Das, MLA Prasanta Muduli and many senior BJD leaders paid tributes. Thereafter, the body was moved to his native village Mukundapur.
Then, the body was moved to the SVM College premises, District Bar Association campus and Thana chhak for general public to have last glimpse of him.
“With demise of Das, Odisha lost a brilliant Dalit leader. I had learnt politics from him” said Minister Das
Police and civil administration made elaborate arrangements to control crowds and ensure maintaining of various Covid-19 guidelines.
Around noon, the body was taken to Swargadwar in Puri for cremation. His son Bijay Shankar Das lit funeral pyre in presence of family members, relatives and some BJD leaders. The body was cremated with full State honours.
Among others, Ministers Samir Ranjan Dash and Raghu Nanadan Das, Sanjay Das Burma, MLA Muduli, ADM Pradip Kumar Sahu and ASP Pratap Chandra Swain were present.