On the occasion of the 178th birth anniversary of legendary writer Vyasakabi Fakir Mohan Senapati, the statue of the poet at Vani Vihar was garlanded by members of the Utkal Sammilani on Thursday.
Later, a memorial meeting was held at Nuagaon presided over by Utkal Sammilani president Basant Kumar Tripathy in secretary Radhanath Praharaj’ presence.
The speakers recalled the contributions of the founder of Utkal Sammilani and said the poet’s novels immensely enriched Odia literature.
They lamented that though Fakir Mohan’s ‘Chha Man Atha Guntha’ is high-quality novel like Premchand’s ‘Gidan’, it has not got the due recognition at national level which is unfortunate.Satyajit Nayak offered a vote of thanks.Among others, Prof Kashinath Rath, Trinath Samantray, Pathani Jena, Jugal Kishore Nayak, Bharat Kumar Jena were present. Utkal Sammilani Mancheswar Branch president Dillip Dashsharma also paid tributes to the iconic poet and garlanded his statue.
Presiding over a function, Dashsharma said Fakir Mohan’s writings should reach the students through internet. Among others, joint secretary Sidharth Shankar Gadnayak, Basanti Tripathy, Maheshwar Biswal, Amrut Swain, Smarranjan Mohanty, Akshay Kumar Sethi, Niranjan Patra were present.
The teachers and staffs of the DAV Public School Chandrasekharpur offered floral tributes to the poet. Activities like chorus, quiz and role enactment were organised on virtual platform by the students to manifest the greatness of the trendsetter author.