Ahead of the 150th Gandhi Jayanti, the India Post on Sunday organised a memorial postal ticket exhibition at the Baxi Jagabandhu English Medium School-2 at Satyabhamapur under Balianta block to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s Odisha Padyatra and his stay in the State.
Noted freedom fighter and former MP Bhabani Charan Patnaik and MLA Shashi Bhushan Behera inaugurated the exhibition. A postal envelop to commemorate Gandhi’s stay at Balianta was also released on the occasion.
The envelop has been prepared with help of the Balianta Mahatma Padyatra Smruti Parishad.
Among others, Odisha Chief Post Master General Dr Santosh Kumar Kamila, State Director G Gurunathan, Bhubaneswar Postal Division chief Satyabadi Biswal, noted postal ticket collector and former Chief Secretary Sahdev Sahoo attended the programme.
The guests encouraged students to take to philately to gain more knowledge.
During his Harijan Padyatra, Mahatma Gandhi had stayed at Satyabhamapur on May 12, 1934. He visited different areas along the Kuakhai and Kushabhadra rivers for the next three days and preached nonviolence, remedies for untouchability and messages for gaining Independence.
In a first, Gandhi facilitated entry of Harijan people in the local Nikunja Bihari temple.
Satyabhamapur Post Master Indira Priyadarshini coordinated the meeting. Guests distributed prizes among winner students of debate competitions held on ideologies of Gandhi.
