Bhubaneswar: The 77th Capital Foundation Day was celebrated with great pomp and show. Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker Surma Padhi inaugurated the ceremony of the Capital Foundation Day.
Bhubaneswar Central MLA Anant Narayan Jena, Bhubaneswar North MLA Sushant Kumar Raut, former Minister Suresh Kumar Rautray, Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das, Deputy Mayor Manjulata Kanhar graced the occasion.
Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Police Commissioner S. Devdutt Singh, BMC Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, BDA Vice Chairman N. Tirumalla Naik, Khurda District Magistrate Chanchal Rana, BMC Additional Commissioner Subhendu Sahu, Sub Collector Manoranja Sahu, Khurda Additional Education Officer Dr. Pragya Paramita Jena, all Corporators joined the ceremony.
President of the Capital Foundation Day Celebration Committee, Pradosh Patnaik, Vice President, Pradyumna Kumar Mohanty, General Secretary Sanat Mishra and many other prominent personalities were present.
The Chief Guest, along with the guests, who joined the celebration on the occasion of the anniversary, jointly organized by the Information and Public Relations Department, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the Capital Foundation Day Celebration Committee, garlanded the capital foundation plaque in front of the Legislative Assembly.
Later, the guests were felicitated with bouquets and uttariya. The Chief Guest, Shrimati Padhi, hoisted the flag and received the salute in the combined parade of the Civilian contingent. A total of 21 groups participated in the parade. Out of them, Soldier School came first, NCC CR&V Squadron came second, and DAV Public School, Unit 8 came third. Special awards were announced for the CRPF Band and Army Air Defence Band.
The capital was established in Bhubaneswar on April 13, 1948. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru unveiled the capital plaque. At that time, the capital was designed for only 40,000 people. But today its population has increased. Currently, more than 1.3 million people are living here. Our capital Bhubaneswar is much higher than any other capital of the country in all aspects such as education, health, transportation, etc.
Mayor Sulochana Das has called upon the people of Bhubaneswar to protect the art and cultural heritage of our capital and to make the city clean, green and beautiful.
The capital is the face of the state. Tourists from all over the country and abroad arrive in the capital first, whether by air or by rail. The art and heritage of our glorious capital is adorned with glory. Speaker Surma Padhi called upon the people of the capital to enhance the glory of this glorious capital.
The guests present delivered their speeches and sought everyone’s cooperation to further develop Bhubaneswar. Finally, the President of the Capital Foundation Day Celebration Committee, Pradosh Prattanaik, thanked the guests.
On the occasion of the Capital Foundation Day, a photo exhibition was organized by the Information and Public Relations Department at the local Jayadeva Bhawan.
Speaker Smt. Padhi inaugurated the photo exhibition. While visiting the photo exhibition, the Speaker highly appreciated the photographs. The department is displaying photographs on the history, art, architecture, political background, social transformation, spiritual landscape, gradual development of Bhubaneswar till it becomes a smart city, etc. on this occasion.
Information & Public Relations Departmental Director (Technical) Surendranath Parida, Additional Director Santosh Kumar Das, Deputy Director Diptimayee Mohapatra, Sucheta Priyadarshani were prominently present.
This two-day exhibition, held under the direct supervision of Exhibition Officer Deepak Kumar Sahu, will be open for the visitors till tomorrow (Monday).