Bhubaneswar, April 13: The capital turned 63 today. And was it a grand birthday bash! A colourful parade in front of the Assembly house and a string of cultural programmes were part of the celebrations.

Students from 52 schools and colleges of the city participated in the civilian parade. The first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation stone of the city this day in 1948. The then town planning engineer Dr Otto Koenigs Berger had prepared the master plan.

Bands of the 7th Battalion of the Orissa State Armed Police Force (OSAP), CRPF and 120th Battalion played as the participants in the parade marked time.

The Capital Day Celebration Committee (CDCC) honoured 11 people with the Rajdhani Gaurava Samman for their distinguished services.

Taking the salute at the parade, Orissa Assembly Speaker Pradeep Kumar Amat said: “We should take all steps to turn Bhubaneswar into a model city. Aspects of development such as education and health should be stressed.”

A slew of ministers and legislators gave their inputs on how to make Bhubaneswar a better city.

Prafulla Samal, the minister of panchayti raj, women and child development and information and public relations, said that Bhubaneswar should be turned into a clean city. “The government will provide all kinds of help to make this occasion even more colourful.”

Badri Narayan Patra , urban and development minister, said the government was following a comprehensive development plan prepared by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur for the development of the city. “Steps have already been taken to restore all the nine natural channels of Bhubaneswar.”

Expressing concern over the rapid rise in the population in the city, Pratap Jena, school and mass education minister, said the time had come to take up developmental measures to meet the needs of the city.

The three MLAs from Bhubaneswar — Ashok Chandra Panda, Bijay Kumar Mohanty and Bhagirathi Badajena — former minister Suresh Routray, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation mayor, Ananta Naryan Jena, information and public relations (I&PR) secretary Surendra Nath Tripathy, BMC commissioner Vishal Dev, I&PR director Baishnab Prasad Mohanty, Khurda collector Hrushikesh Tripathy, Bhubaneswar additional district magistrate, Hariballabha Mishra, sub-collector Saroj Samal, president of CDCC Pradosh Patnaik, vice-president Pradumnya Kumar Mohanty and secretary Sanat Mishra spoke about the rich culture and tradition of Bhubaneswar.

The Rajdhani Gaurav Samman-2011were awarded to Santanu Mohapatra in the field of culture, Dr Achyuta Samanta (social service), Srinibas Rath (administration), Dr Sashi Sekhar Kar (health), Nirmal Patnaik (law), Jitendra Kumar Mohanty (industry), cricketer Debasis Mohanty (sports), Sabyasachi Mishra (film), Priya Chaudhary (actress), Sridhar Nayak (sanitation) and Artai Lata Khuntia (nurse).

Business establishments too celebrated Foundation Day in their own way. Khurda Petroleum Dealer Association’s Badri Naryan Samantray, said: “All petrol pump owners decorated their petrol pumps with lights. All customers were given chocolates. Discounts were given on purchase of lubricants.” Several shops too gave discounts to their customers.

Another function was organised by Ama Bhubaneswar, a social organisation. Uddhav Udipta Nayak was awarded for his collection of postal stamps by the organisation.