Khurda: At a time when the district administration is gearing up for year-long celebrations of Paika rebellion commemoration ceremony, the handing over of key responsibilities of organising the events to some non-Paika outfits has sparked off controversy.
According to sources, the ceremony to mark completion of 200 years of Paika revolt will go for a colourful start at the district headquarters here March 17. However, the district administration assigning several key responsibilities, including those of inaugural and valedictory functions, to some non-Paika organisations has irked the Paika outfits.
Members of Paika outfits like Kalinga Paika Sangathan, Tapang Dalabehera Smruti Parishad, Khandayat Kshetriya Mahasangha, Khandayat Khetriya Kaliki Sangh, Buxi Jagabandhu Smruti Committee, Jayee Rajguru Paika Sangha, Krutibas Patsani Smruti Committee met the district collector Monday urging him to entrust them with the tasks.
Alleging that there is possibility of massive misappropriation of funds by the non-Paika outfits, the Paika outfits urged the collector to withdraw the former from being at the helm of affairs.
The commemoration ceremony will be celebrated throughout the year about which Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had mentioned in his budget speech. “Two hundred years ago, in 1817, a valiant uprising of soldiers led by Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar Mohapatra) took place in Khurda in Orissa. We will commemorate the same appropriately,” Jaitley had said.
The Paikas were the traditional land-owning militia of Orissa and served as warriors. However, they were alienated by the British regime, who took over the hereditary rent-free lands granted to them after the conquest of Khurda. They were also subjected to extortion and oppression at the hands of the company government and its servants.
The Paikas revolted against the British after the later took over their rent-free land, 14 years after Orissa came under British rule in 1803.
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