Students take part in a march past in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, April 13: Odisha’s capital turned 65 today, the occasion being marked by a colourful parade in front of the Assembly and a string of functions throughout the day.

The Capital Day Celebration Committee, in collaboration with the Odisha government, organised a meeting and the parade to celebrate the occasion.

Students of 54 schools and colleges took part in the civilian parade. Bands of the 7th Battalion of the Odisha State Armed Police Force, the CRPF and 120th Battalion played as the participants in the parade marked time.

First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of the city this day in 1948. Though town planning engineer Otto H. Koenigsberger had prepared the master plan of the city, one would find a number of deviations from it.

The city has moved forward over the years and its population reached nearly 10 lakh from a modest 16,000 in 1948. A number of national institutes, such as the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Institute of Minerals and Material Technology (IMMT), Indian Institute of Technology, a number of private engineering colleges, universities and medical colleges have come up in the city.

However, the state government is struggling hard to provide proper sewerage and drainage to city.

Urban development minister Debi Prasad Mishra said: “The city is emerging as an education and technical hub. Students should take benefit of it.”

Minister for information, public relations and energy Arun Sahu said: “Apart from the government, the citizens, too, play a big role in making the city beautiful. The government is preparing a vision document for the city.”

An official said steps were being taken to develop the city according to a plan prepared by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

As many as 13 persons were honoured with Rajdhani Gaurav Samman-2013 for their distinguished services on the occasion.

The awardees are — Raghunath Mohapatra (sculptor), Sanghamitra Das (health worker), Prashanta Ranjan Patnaik (lawyer), Hadibandhu Halli (social worker), Aswini Kumar (scientist) J.K. Jhunjhunwalla (industrialist), Amiya Kumar Mallick (sportsperson), Shyam Narayan Tiwari (retired IPS officer), Babusan (actor), Jituna Kishore Nayak (traffic constable), Kalindi Charan Patnaik (postman) Shantilata Pati (nurse) and Bipin Bihari Behera (sanitation worker).