Jagatsinghpur school to get Tagore statue

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government will install the statue of Rabindranath Tagore at a school in Jagatsinghpur district as a mark of respect to the legendary poet, officials said today.

"This is a tribute to Biswakabi Rabindranath Tagore who had donated land and set up a school at Pandua village under Ersama block of Jagatinghpur district," School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said.

The nondescript Pandua village that still has the rickety ancestral house of the poet, had no education facility when Tagore himself took steps to build a school for the education of villagers.

There were at least 53 villages in Jagatsinghpur district which was part of the erstwhile zamindari estate of the Tagore family.

The house was one of Tagore's most preferred retreats and it was here where the poet had penned his dance drama "Chitrangada," Mishra said.

Locals have named the road that connects the village with the highway as 'Rabindra Sarani'.

The people of Pandua village feel proud as Tagore himself spent time there, Mishra said, adding steps would be taken to preserve his legacy in Jagatsinghpur district. PTI AAM SKN MM CPS