President Droupadi Murmu embarks on 3-day Odisha visit, reaches home district

Rairangpur: President Droupadi Murmu embarked on her three-day visit to Odisha for various official engagements.

For the first time after assuming the office of President of India, Murmu visited her home district Mayurbhanj. Accompanied by daughter, President landed at Badampahar helipad in an IAF chopper at around 10.15 am on Thursday.

Odisha Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick, Union Minister Bisweshwar Tudu and other dignitaries and officials welcomed President Murmu at the helipad.

Breaking protocol, President Murmu preferred to walk to meet her villagers and fans, who were waving at her at the helipad, before moving towards her in-laws’ village Pahadpur, where she will lay a wreath at the statue of her husband late Shyam Charan Murmu and lay foundation stones of a community centre at SLS Trust School to be built by NABARD and a skill development centre. She is likely to spend some time with school students and villagers at her in-laws’ village.

“I was delighted to meet President Droupadi Murmu. She belongs to our village Uparbeda. During her previous visit to Puri, she had promised us to visit our place and she kept it,” one of the villagers told media.

During 3-day official visit to Odisha, President Murmu will attend a host of programmes including the convocation ceremony of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in Baripada.

As per schedule, Murmu will also visit Brahma Kumaris Centre, Hatbadra, Satapautia, where she will launch the Addition Free Odisha campaign. She is scheduled to attend some other programmes, including inauguration of a 100-ft tall flag mast hoisting the national flag near Badabandha, officials said.

On May 5, she will go to her Rairangpur residence and will spend about 20 minutes in the holiday home. From there, the President will visit Pandit Raghunath Murmu’s village Dandbosh and later to the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) and spend the night at Baripada.

For the visit of Murmu, the STR has remain closed to visitors for two days (May 4 and 5). All the tourist spots inside the sanctuary, including Barehipani waterfall and Chahala forest resort have been made ready for the President’s visit.

On May 6, she will reach Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo (MSCB) University, Baripada at around 10 a.m. to deliver the convocation address. The President will leave the MSCB campus at 12.15 p.m. and fly back to Kalaikunda airport of West Bengal, from where she will return to Delhi.

In view of the visit of the President to her hometown, tight security arrangements have been made by Odisha Police. About 50 platoons of police force have been deployed at different locations, said a police official. Himanshu Lal, inspector general of police (eastern range), said three-layer security arrangements have been made for the President’s visit.