The members of Kanika Sahid Smruti Sansad on Saturday on the occasion of 94th Balidan Divas paid tribute to their sons of the soil who sacrificed their lives for the sake of motherland in the pre-Independence period.

They congregated in the martyr tower at Meghapur under Rajkanika block. Besides, locals, intellectuals, PRI members, several youths of local clubs remembered the heroic deeds of the martyrs Basu Sethy of Tentulikoil and Bisuni Madhual of Bartani village along with peasant leader Ananda Chandra Jena.

They demanded before the State Government to take steps for the development of the martyr tower, informed Sansad president laxminaryan Sahu.

According to Damodar Dhal, a retired school teacher of Tentulikoil, Basu Sethy and Bisuni Madhual were the first martyrs of State in the non-cooperation movement called by Mahatma Gandhi, who laid down their lives while fighting against the tyranny of the British and the Raja of Kanika in 1922.

On April 23, 1922, about 2,000 peasants under the leadership of Sethy and Madhual courageously prevented the British police and the army of Raja of Kanika to enter the village to collect unfair taxes. As a result, the police opened fire in which Sethy and Madhual were killed near the Bebarta pond at Meghapur, said Sansad secretary Sukanta Kumar Das.

To remember the heroic deeds of the duo martyrs, the locals erected a martyr tower at the same spot, where the duo martyrs were shot dead.

Former Chief Minister Dr Harekrushna Mahatab in 1980 had provided fund for the tower.

Meanwhile, the members of the Sansad rued that though several times they have requested the senior officials of the district administration and local administration to participate in the Balidan Diwas, but neither evinced any interest.