Umarkote: On April 1, 1936, a separate Odisha state was formed. Today, on this occasion, Education Minister Nityananda Gond paid tribute to Odisha’s great sons by offering floral wreaths in celebration of Utkal Dibasa.
During the Utkal Dibasa observance, Minister Nityananda Gond visited various statues of eminent personalities. While passing by the statue of freedom fighter Ravi Singh Majhi at Jharigaon Road Square in Umarkote, he was taken aback by the sight. The statue had not been cleaned for a long time, and dust had accumulated from the pedestal to the top.
Seeing this, the minister himself took a cloth to clean the statue and later brought water to wash it properly before offering floral tributes.
In Umarkote town, the municipal administration has often neglected honoring the statues of great personalities. This incident is not the first of its kind; in the past, Umarkote Municipality has repeatedly ignored the maintenance of statues, even on birth anniversaries and tribute days, by neither cleaning them nor offering flowers as a mark of respect.