C.M. Prasad addresses the function.

Ranchi, Jan. 17: “Mit gaye na mitne di watan ki aabroo/ aise shaheedane watan ko barambaar mera salaam.” These were the lines that echoed in the hearts of the members of the Shaheed Pandey Ganpat Rai Memorial committee who met today on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

Members of the Shaheed Pandey Ganpat Rai Memorial Committee tried to relive some of the memorable moments of Pandey Ganpat Rai, one of the eminent freedom fighters of the country who sacrificed his life struggling for an independent India. The members of the committee organised the programme at the very place the martyr was hanged to death by the British. “The body of the young leader was left hanging on the Kadam tree where the function has been organised, for 12 hours so that people could be terrorised for their revolutionary activities and views,” said Dilip Tetarbe, a dramatist and writer of the capital.

“Two days before the death of Pandey Ganpat Rai, another freedom fighter was hanged by the British. The branch on which the two leaders were hanged has been kept in a museum,” said a member of the committee. The members carried out development activities in and around the place of death of the leader but due to acute shortage of funds and absence of monetary help from the government, work was stopped immediately.