A pal of gloom descended on Ambapalli in Bargarh on Friday, when 12-year-old Shreyas Pujari, who played the role of child Balram in the world-famous Dhanu Yatra, suddenly died while playing in his village.
As per reports, Pujari who was a student of Class-7 in the Saraswati Sishu Mandir in Ambapalli, collapsed while playing on the village road this morning. His parents and villagers rushed him to the nearest hospital for treatment where the doctors pronounced him dead.
The rehearsal for this year’s Dhanu Yatra has just begun and all the artistes including Pujari have been attending it for a week. In fact, he rehearsed yesterday (Thursday) too and looked absolutely fine to his co-actors.
Rabindra Pujari, his instructor at the Dhanu Yatra said, “He was doing really great in the rehearsals. His performance was at par with senior artistes. I was sure, he would do really great in this year’s Dhanu Yatra. But sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. He left us in a very young age.”
The Secretary of Bargarh Dhanu Yatra Committee, Sureswar Satapathy said, “We still do not know how he died. He was absolutely fine this morning. Nobody knew if he had any prior disease. His untimely demise has really saddened not only his family but all the people of ‘Gopa pura’ including the members of Dhanu Yatra committee. I pray before Maa Samalei to give strength to his family at this time of extreme grief.”
Dhanu Yatra will kick off on December 27 and will conclude on January 6, 2023.