Malkangiri: Gaiety and festive fervour marked the 25th foundation day celebrations of Malkangiri district as people from various sections of the society assembled at the Dandakaranya playground and participated in the programme Sunday.
Over 10,000 residents participated in the celebrations and paid their tribute to former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik who was instrumental in carving out a separate district of Malkangiri October 2, 1992. The district was earlier a sub-division of undivided Koraput district. Since then, people of the tribal-dominated district have gone through many trials and tribulations.
Attending the programme as the chief guest, state housing and urban development minister Pushpendra Singhdeo, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi and others paid their tributes to the former Chief Minister and highlighted how the district has made strides in development with various schemes sponsored by the state government.
Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty presided over a meeting organised on the occasion. The guests felicitated various achievers on this occasion and gave away prizes and certificates to winners of various competitions held among students.
The celebrations began from the Jagannath temple in the town where thousands of residents along with the local MP, the collector, local MLA Manas Madkami, former MLA Nimain Sarkar, Zilla Parishad chairperson Padmini Muduli, civic body chairperson Rajwant Kaur and a host of other political and administrative persons offered obeisance to the deities praying for the wellbeing and prosperity of the people of the district.
Later, a mega procession accompanied by traditional musical and dance troupes was taken out from the temple. The procession covered over two km to reach Dandakaranya playground. During the journey, the guests garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and other eminent personalities as people standing on both sides of the road congratulated the participants. PNN
