Union Culture Minister writes to CM Naveen for Paika Bidroha Memorial

Bhubaneswar: Union Culture Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma today wrote to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Utkal varsity Vice-Chancellor for establishment of Paika Bidroha Memorial in Khurda and setting up a Paika Bidroha Chair at the premier University in Bhubaneswar respectively.

In the letter to CM Naveen, Sharma has urged him to identify a suitable place and allot 50 acres of land in the Barunei foothills for the proposed memorial to commemorate the Paika rebellion.

Apart from being a permanent infrastructure on completion of 200 years of Paika Bidroha, the memorial will be a tribute to the rebellion, the letter stated.

The Union Minister has also shot a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the Utkal University in this regard proposing him to set up a Paika Bidroha Chair at the varsity in Bhubaneswar.

The centre has also decided to create a corpus fund for the formulation and smooth running of the Chair for years, the Union Minister stated in his letter.

The decision was taken keeping in view the history of Utkal varsity and it being the oldest university in the state, Sharma mentioned.