As many as 30 senior citizens visited mutts, monasteries and memorial centres in Puri on Tuesday. As part of a heritage ride initiative of the district administration, senior citizens began from the Niladri beach and moved through many heritage points of thousands of years old which are living in a ruining condition. Researcher Dr Surendra Mishra led the team and described the historical and cultural importance of the places.
The district administration had provided four gulf courts for the heritage ride with participation of NGOs, SSGs and Nehru Yuba Kendra to assist the visitors. A few days back, a group of students, youths and tourists had visited
various important places as part of the heritage ride, including Guru Nanak Dev’s Bauli Mutt, Kabri Chaura, Bidur Mutt and Tota Gopinath etc which are centuries’ old cultural centres of the city. While many of the centres have already disappeared due to negligence, some are in a shambles at present.
Sponsored jointly by the Tourism Department of the Government of India and the Puri district administration, the heritage ride’s mission is to create awareness and insight on old heritages among the visitors. Among others, Union Deputy Director Tourism Sonia Tirky, Information Officer Jagannath Behra, District Tourist Officer Saroj Kanta Pradhan and senior lawyer of Orissa High Court Umabalav Mahapatra were present.