Rich tributes were paid here on Monday to the four freedom-fighters, who had laid down their lives while taking part in an anti-British rally during the Quit India Movement on the Raksha Bandhan day on August 22, 1942 at Kalamatia in Bari block of Jajpur district.
A retired headmaster and a researcher, Brunaban Samal, recalled how police had gunned down Saunti Mallick of Srirampur, Sananda Swain and Hadibandhu Panda of Krushnanagar and Mayadhar Bhuyan of Hatasahi and 10 others were injured near a pond at Kalamatia.
Among others, Bari block Chairperson Sunanda Das, Sukinda BDO Maheswar Sethi, Kalamatia GP Sarpanch Kunjabihari Das, Samir Mallick, Abhaya Kumar Beurei and others paid tributes to the martyrs
Sola Panda (83), widow daughter-in-law of martyr Hadibandhu Panda, Chitaranjan Bhuyan (58), grandson of martyr Mayadhar Bhuyan, and Fakir Mallick (45), grandson of martyr Sauti Mallick, were felicitated on the occasion.
The local BDO promised to build statues of all four martyrs in the village, Villagers erected a Sahid Stambha (martyr tower) at the spot to remember the sacrifices of the martyrs.