Prez visit to Odisha: RD Women’s College prog delayed by an hour

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Nov 28:

The arrival timing of the President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rama Devi Autonomous Women’s College in the Odisha capital to attend the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the college on Saturday has been delayed by an hour, Principal Chitrangada Samantasinghar said here on Friday.

Instead of 4.15 pm,  the inauguration ceremony of the three-day celebrations will now start at 5.15 pm. The President will arrive at the college premises at 5.1o pm sharp and stay till 6.15 pm, she said.

The inauguration of a 7-foot-tall commemorative statue created by celebrated sculptor Padma Bibhusan Raghunath Mohapatra and designed on the theme of women’s empowerment portraying three women carrying the globe on their heads by the President has been cancelled due to security issues, said Samantasinghar.

The statue will now be inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the morning of the College’s Golden Jubilee day. The Chief Minister will also flag off a rally by college students inside the campus at 9.30 am, the Principal added.

During the event, the President would felicitate three alumni of the college – internationally acclaimed Karate player Valena Valentina, sprinter Srabani Nanda and college’s best graduate in  the 2013-14 session Swagatika Behera, she informed.

Besides, a documentary on the ideals of Maa Ramadev, ‘the Guardian Angel of the College’ and the glorious history of the institution will be released on the occasion, she said.

The college is spending around Rs 35 lakh on the celebrations with money from the college development fund, besides corporate sponsorship.

The principal said the Higher Education department had sanctioned Rs 28 crore for construction of various infrastructural facilities in the college.

The total grant includes Rs 15 crore for construction of three hostel with 400 seats each, Rs 3 crore for a new library building and Rs 5 crore for construction of a convention centre with 1,000 seats and Rs 5 crore for construction of an academic building for the junior college, Baliarsingh said.