Sambalpur: Rich tributes were paid to freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on their birth anniversaries by people from various walks of life in the city.
Veer Surendra Sai was the first freedom fighter, who had raised a war against the British in 1827, about 30 years before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, said the speakers.
"But, it is unfortunate that we have not been able to establish the contribution of this freedom fighter at the national level," a speaker said at a meeting here. People have urged the government to take steps to install a statue of Surendra Sai in the Parliament.
Attending the programme as chief guest, Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan assured the people of taking up the matter with the Lok Sabha Speaker for installation of a statue of Surenbdra Sai on the Parliament premises. He said: "The nation should not be ungrateful to Surendra Sai."
The British had jailed Surendra Sai for 37 years - half of his life span.
Sambalpur MLA Raseswari Panigrahi, narrating the history of Sai's freedom struggle, stressed on the need to establish a museum for the next generation of the people.
Galaxy of leaders from all political parties and prominent citizens garlanded the statue of Surendra Sai and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the early morning. Students of various schools took part in the march past and a "Veer dress" competition was organised among the children, in which schoolchildren took part in colourful dresses of various national leaders.
The MP and the MLA inaugurated a lawn tennis synthetic court, named "Veer Surendra Sai lawn tennis court" on this occasion. It has also been decided to provide Rs 50 lakh for the water supply scheme at Khinda village, the birth place of Surendra Sai
Doctor thrashed
A doctor on duty at the Kuchinda sub-divisional hospital in Sambalpur suffered injuries after being attacked by a youth. The doctor, identified Subodh Nayak, was in his hospital chamber, when Rinku Soni entered and started thrashing Nayak with a steel stool. Nayak has suffered injuries in his head and is admitted at Burla hospital. Though reason behind the attack is yet to be ascertained and police have initiated a probe.
