Cuttack: A comment of the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on TE Ravenshaw made flutter across the state. The arguments for and against the issue opened the eyes of the conscious citizens of the state and raised the case of another historic place in Silver City. The city intellectuals group recently urged the state government to renovate the historic Idgah Ground in Cuttack which is linked to the cultural and academic history of the state. The first general meeting of the Utkal Sammilani, to press for a separate state, was convened on the ground December 30 and 31 in 1903 by the prides of Odisha like Madhusudan Das, Fakir Mohan Senapati and Maharaja Krushna Chandra.
Ironically, the historic site still remains in ruins even if Utkal Diwas is being observed across the state to commemorate the occasion. None has discussed or thought over it. It is to be said here that, the Kulabrudha Madhusudan started his fight for a separate state from this historic place and it took nearly 36 years to see Odisha as an independent state based on language. The government has issued a ROR to the Utkal Sammilani but nothing spectacular took place at the site. It was expected to construct at least a memorial structure at the spot. The ruling government in the near past and of earlier periods forgot the site and heeded no importance to it. Several patriotic organisations have issued request letters, memorandums to the government to bring the place to the limelight to get its due glory.
Still, no work has been carried out at the site. The president of the Thinkers’ Club Barada Prasanna Das, presented a memorandum to the deputy chief minister at Cuttack recently stating the importance and the efforts needed to give due importance to the site. The president urged intellectuals of the state to think deeply about the issue and suggest appropriate to the state government. The Cuttack Development Authority constructed a pedestal with a plate in the year 2003 and completed its ‘responsibility’. Das requested the ministers, intellectuals and other conscious citizens to visit the historic place and rekindle the spirit of patriotism in their hearts. “As an Odia, all of us should feel proud of the heritage site and make an effort to bring due glory to it,” he said.
ARINDAM GANGULY, OP