Puri: 5T Secretary V K Pandian today paid an early morning visit to the birthplace of Utkalamani Pandit Gopabandhu Das at Suando in Satyabadi of Puri district.
Reportedly, after paying tributes to the statue of Pandit Gopabandhu Das, he reviewed the ongoing development works at Suando with the district officials including Collector Samarth Verma and others.
The Government of Odisha has taken up the conservation work of various places associated with Gopabandhu.
The 5T Secretary emphasized on early completion of the Gopabandhu Das Birthplace Memorial & Museum Project and the associated works at Suando.
Notably, Gopabandhu Das was born on 9 October 1877 in Suando village. He married Apti at the age of twelve but continued his education. He had basic schooling in the village before progressing to a middle school nearby. Then, in 1893 Das joined Puri Zilla School. Thereafter, Das progressed to Ravenshaw College in Cuttack.
Das arrived at his first job as a teacher in Nilagiri in the Balasore district. He then became a lawyer, variously described as being based in Puri and Cuttack. In 1909, Madhusudan Das appointed him to be State Pleader for the princely state of Mayurbhanj. Later, Das gave up his practice and worked for the welfare of the people.
In 1913 or 1915, Das launched and acted as editor for a short-lived monthly literary magazine titled Satyabadi from the campus of his school. He initially accepted a role editing Asha, a newspaper published in Berhampur. In 1919 he started a weekly newspaper called The Samaja.
Gopabandhu became All India Vice-President of the Lok Sevak Mandal in April 1928. He became ill while attending a society meeting in Lahore and died on 17 June 1928.
Kalinga AI