A Delhi-based Odia NGO held a grand patriotic cultural extravaganza to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of soldiers who turned martyrs.
Nine Odia martyrs’ families were felicitated by Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda.
He lauded the efforts of the organisors and expressed satisfaction that the Kalinga Bharati Foundation is going to hold similar programmes in each State capital of the country to boost the morale of the martyr’s families.
Emotions ran high and tears welled up in the eyes of the felicitated wives, mothers or fathers and even from the eyes of the gatherings as the stories of their sublime sacrifice of the martyrs either on war or on terrorist attacks were described.
The martyrs whose families were felicitated included former Additional DG, Assam, Raghunath Behura, Mahanga, Pitabasa Majhi, Nuapada, CR Panda, Bhubaneswar, Manoranjan Panda, Jajpur, Sachidananda Mallick, Jajpur, Manas Ranjan Sahoo, Angul, Ugresan lenka, Jagatsinghpur, Kailas Chandra Dash, Niali and Nrusingh Charan Routray, Niali. They received bouquets, citations and some cash as a token of gratitude on behalf of the organisation.
Organisation’s founder Er Akshay Kumar Samal told reporters that after the Kargil and Uri incidents, his organisation decided to felicitate martyrs. “The success of such an endeavour after Haryana’s Gurgaon’s programme, encouraged us to hold such a programme in Odisa’s capital Bhubaneswar,” said principal chief advisor of Kalinga Bharati Foundation Dr Abhaya Kumar Nayak.
Commissioner-cum-Secretary Culture Manoranjan Panigrahi, Nalco CMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chand, Prof and Dean, OP Jindal Global University, Dr Tapan Kumar Panda, Angul Collector Anil Kumar Samal and MCl CMD Dr Anil Kumar Jha attended as guests of honour.
The programme was sponsored by MCl, Nalco, Indian Oil Corporation, Gas Authority of India ltd, NTPC, JSPl, Culture Department, Odisha, CTTC, Bhubaneswar, NISER, Bhubaneswar and Government of Haryana. The meeting was followed by a beautiful melodious evening performed by ‘Soor Vibrations’ under the leadership of eminent vocalist Dr Jayshree Dhal and his troupe. live paintings, dance and music were another attraction.
Prof Prasanna Kumar Pradhan, Bijaya Kumar Samal, Basanta Kumar Sahoo, AN Patra, Sanjay Kumar Dash, Sudhansu Sekhar Padhi, Bishnupriya Sahoo, Minati Nanda, Pradatta Pradhan, Hrudaya Ranjan Nayak, Kishore Dwibedi, Mahendra Kumar Saha, associates of the foundation were present. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by the chairman of the organizing committee and former I and PR Director Sushil Kumar Das.