Jagatsinghpur collector Narayan Chandra Jena and his wife after the coronation. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Jan. 11: In a district, the collector is as good as a king.

But yesterday, Jagatsinghpur collector Narayan Chandra Jena felt like a real monarch as the residents of Sidhala village seated him on a throne with a crown on his head. “I sat on the throne and wore the crown in deference to their custom. It was a thrilling experience,” said Jena.

Sidhala residents coronate the district collector every year as part of a custom which has been religiously followed for the last 17 years.

“For us, he (the collector) is the emperor of Sidhala empire. We are his subjects. The emperor rules us and looks after our well being. He is also duty bound to take care of our presiding deity Baldevjew,” said Jyoti Ranjan Parida, a villager. The village, which falls in Mudupur gram panchayat with a population of 1,500, appears to be reaping the benefits of having made the collector their king. All government-sponsored development programmes are being implemented here without any hitch. The village boasts of excellent pucca roads, electricity and safe drinking water which elude in many hamlets in the district. “We have stuck to the custom and reaped benefits. There has been a spree of developmental work in and around the village. Successive collectors have donned the role of ‘king of Sidhala’. They all have a soft corner for us,” said Parida.

“We are simply following Jagannath culture. Earlier, the local zamindar used to wear the crown and head the Baldevjew shrine here. With his death, a dispute arose as to who will wear the crown. After much debate, it was unanimously decided that the district collector would be made the king. That was is 1994. A request was made to the then collector who agreed. This practice has been going on since then,” said Sura Prasad Nayak, secretary of the Baldevjew Temple Management Committee.

This year’s coronation ceremony had all the pomp and grandeur of the past. The collector, along with his wife, graced the occasion.

Reminiscent of the royal darbar, the “king” heard public grievances after the ceremony. Wearing the crown, he ordered his subordinates to address his subjects’ grievances. Complaints ranged from old age pension to irregularities in house allotment under the Indira Awas Yojana scheme.