Sambalpur: As remarkable as it may sound, the Odisha government has renamed 'Bilung' under Bamra Tehsil of Sambalpur district as 'Rangabati Bilung' in recognition of the popularity of cult song 'Rangabati'. The decision has been implemented with effect from today as the State government got a no objection certificate from the Centre.
Interestingly, Bilung is the native place of Padma Shri Mitrabhanu Gauntia, who had penned the hugely popular folk song. Born in the year 1942, Gauntia has composed close to a thousand Sambalpuri songs. He received Padma Sri in 2020 in addition to Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Akashvani National Award for music.
Recognising the popularity of the famous folk song 'Rangabati' of Odisha, the state government, on obtaining No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the Government of India, renamed Bilung under Bamra Tehsil in Sambalpur district as 'Rangabati Bilung', said a notification issued by the State Revenue Department.
Taking to twitter, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Odisha government for honouring the evergreen song by renaming village Bilung to village Rangabati Bilung.
Rangabati, the all-time hit Sambalpuri folk song, was first recorded for All India Radio, Sambalpur, in 1975-76. Later, it was re-recorded (Disc) in Indian Record Company, Kolkata, in 1978-79.
The music composer for this cult song was late Prabhudatta Pradhan. Padma Shri Jitendra Haripal and Krishna Patel rendered their voice to the cult song. Haripal received the Padma Shri award in 2017.
Earlier, the Sambalpur District Collector, the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Board of Revenue and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also recommended renaming Bilung village as 'RangabatiBilung' revenue village.
"This is a rare moment in the history of art of culture of the state," Revenue and Disaster Management secretary B P Sethi told PTI, adding that the government declared the village after the son (Gauntia) keeping in view its popularity among all sections of people of the state.
(With Agency Inputs)
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