Members of Bengalee Association pay tribute to Netaji on his birth anniversary on Sunday at Lajpat Park in Bhagalpur. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur, Jan. 23: A procession was taken out and a blood camp organised to mark the 114th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose here today.

The Bhagalpur chapter of Bengalee Association, Bihar, led the colourful prabhatpheri (morning procession). Sudarshan Das, the headmaster of Durga Charan High School, flagged off the procession from the school campus early in the morning.

Nirupamkanti Pal, the general secretary of the Bhagalpur branch of the Bengalee Association, Bihar, said the procession passed through important thoroughfares before concluding at the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Lajpat Park.

With slogans like “Jai Hind nara jiska hai, woh Subhas hamara hai”, “Tum hume khoon do, hum tumhe azadi denge”, “Delhi chalo” and “Netaji Subhas amar rahe” on their lips, schoolchildren and people from different walks of lives took out marched through various streets of the silk city to the tune of Kadam kadam badhaye ja, a song of Indian National Army that was raised by Netaji to fight against the British rulers. “The residents lined up on the streets to welcome the procession that comprised a band, schoolchildren and other participants,” Pal said.

“To mark the occasion, the association also organised a blood donation camp at Bangiya Sahitya Parisad in Adampur today, where more than 50 persons, including half-a-dozen women, donated blood,” said Pal. Prasant Bhusan, the income tax commissioner of Bhagalpur, was among several prominent persons who donated blood at the camp. The zonal business manager of a cellular service, Rajiv Ranjan, inaugurated the camp.

The camp was organised jointly with the blood bank of Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial College and Hospital. “The blood bank of Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial College and Hospital provided each blood donor at the camp with a donor’s card today. The donor’s card offers the holder the facility of getting one unit of blood free of cost from the blood bank whenever required within the period of a year,” Pal said.

Blood donation

The Bihar Bengalee Association in Motihari celebrated Netaji’s birth anniversary with plantation and blood donation drives, reported our correspondent.

District magistrate of East Champaran Narmadeshwar Lal garlanded Netaji’s statue at Subhas Park.