The 80th birthday of Odisha, Utkal Divas, was observed with fanfare by various organisations here on Wednesday. The celebration organised by the district administration was attended by State Minister for Steel and Mines Prafulla Mallick as chief guest. In the morning, a procession from Udit Nagar Parade Ground passed through the entire city and the guests, district administration officials, representatives from different political parties and organisations garlanded the statues of Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Birsa Munda, Biju Patnaik, BR Ambedkar, Fakir Mohan Senapati and Mahatma Gandhi. In evening, the celebration meeting was held in Uditnagar Parade Ground with cultural events.
Similarly, a grand cultural programme was organised at Civic Centre by Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in the evening. The day was also celebrated in the BBehera Auditorium of the NIT, Rourkela and a large number of students, staff, officers, faculty, campus residents and invited guests attended the function. The function was presided over by Board of Governors, NIT Rourkela Chairperson Vasantha Ramaswamy. The other dignitaries present on the dais were Dr Netajee Abhinandan and Dr Aparna Mohanty who spoke on topics ‘Evaluation of Odia literature’ and ‘Glimpses of Modern Odia literature’ respectively.
Similarly in Rajgangpur, the day was jointly observed by OCl and Nilachakra which was attended by a large number of students, public and dignitaries. On the other hand, the KKD (Kosal Kranti Dal) denouncing the ‘Utkal Divas’ and ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ observed the day as a Black Day and staged demonstration at Panposh Chowk. Attending the demonstration, KKD Central chief Bunde Dharua and Kosal Ekta Manch chief Gorakhanath Sahoo alleged that in two phases in 1936 and 1948 the Kosal area was included with Odisha. The Odisha State was formed with the merger of three States such as Kosal, Utkal and Kalinga on April 1, 1936. Kosal area is treated as a step mother by the Odisha Government and that is why these areas are suffering from high poverty, bonded labour, IMR, unemployment and displacement despite contributing a large share to the State exchequer, they alleged.