A statue of Karmaveer Gourishankar Ray was unveiled by the Culture Department at PMG Square here on the occasion of his 179th birthday on Thursday.
The installation ceremony was attended by Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, Health and Family Welfare and law Minister Pratap Jena, MP Prasnna Patsani, MlA Priyadarshi Mishra and city Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and relatives of Ray.
A sum of Rs 11 lakh was spent for installation of the statue and the pedestal, said Culture Secretary Manoranjan Panigrahi.
Ray, who was born in 1838 and died in 1917, was one of the makers of modern Odisha. Born in Cuttack’s Dikhitpara, he had his education in Kolkata. He was associated with various organisations like Utkal Sabha, Odisha Association, Utkal Sammilani and Utkal Sahitya Samaj for furtherance of Odia language and literature.
He had established the Cuttack Printing Company in 1865 to bring out the first Odia newspaper Utkal Deepika, which had disseminated information on the hardships of Odias during famine of 1866. He also started Purana Prakashika Samiti for publication of rare palm leaf manuscripts along with Ramayana and Mahabharata.