Bhubaneswar, Sept. 1: A park dedicated to Odissi doyen the late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was inaugurated today by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. But no one from the legend’s family nor any of his disciples were invited to the event.

The development authority celebrated its foundation day by inaugurating a couple of parks in the city. One of them was the Kelucharan Mohapatra Park at Gadakana in Patia.

Many in the Odissi dance fraternity were upset because the family and disciples of the Odissi legend were not even informed about the event.

Spread over 20 acres, the Kelucharan Mohapatra Park mostly saw guests from the BJD. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the park, while minister Debi Prasad Mishra was present at the event along with MP Prasanna Patasani, Ashok Panda and various others. But neither the Odissi exponent’s son nor any of his leading disciples were to be seen at the event as they had no knowledge of the park’s inauguration.

“At our annual festival hosted in memory of my father, the chief minister had announced in 2006 that there would be a park in his name and statues at various places in the city. I had given them some pictures for the statue then. I am happy that the promise was kept. But the department concerned could at least have informed us on time so that we could have been present at the proud moment,” said Kelucharan’s son Ratikant Mohapatra.

“I am a little taken aback that though this was a sign of respect for a culture icon of the state, it was inaugurated like any other park. His leading disciples should have been invited too,” he said.

Veteran Odissi exponent Kumkum Mohanty also felt sad that the BDA did not inform her about the event. “I am one of his senior disciples and I would have obviously wanted to be there when my guru’s contribution was being recognised,” she said.

“Moreover, they should have included scenes from his life and his unique Odissi poses if the park was to be named after him. To that end, they should have consulted his family, disciples and people close to him,” she said.

BDA vice-chairman Vishal Dev said the inauguration plan was made suddenly and hence the guru’s family could not be invited.

“Yes, we should have invited his family, but it was just a BDA project. So, there was no plan of inviting any personalities from art and culture. The work was completed and so we decided to go ahead with opening the park for the public on a special day for the BDA, since it was our foundation day,” said Dev.

The BDA authorities said that they spent Rs 1.75 crore on this park. Ambika Mohanty, executive engineer of the BDA said that the work for the park had begun two years back and the statue of Kelucharan Mohapatra was installed last year. “There will be a little more beautification in the vast park in a phase-wise manner. But plans of depicting anything in detail about the personality at the park is not on the cards,” he said.

Some prominent dancers and personalities from the state’s cultural field termed the event an election drive and said it was not an honest gesture to promote culture.