Sambalpur (Odisha), Oct 2 (PTI) Hundreds of people offered prayers at the Gandhi temple at Bhatra in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on the 155th birth anniversary of the father of the nation on Wednesday.
It is probably one of the oldest of the few temples dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in the country.
A bronze idol of the father of the nation is worshipped twice a day every day with priests reciting Gita and Ram Dhun, Radhakanta Bag, chief priest and president of the temple committee, said.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Collector Baliram Bondar also paid tributes at the temple, while many visitors took part in a cleanliness drive. Members of various social organisations also garlanded the idol.
The temple at Bhatra in Sambalpur Municipal Corporation area was constructed by people, led by former Rairakhol MLA late Abhimanyu Kumar, in 1974.
Abhimanyu Kumar had attended a meeting addressed by Mahatma Gandhi in Sambalpur in 1934.
Kumar was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and he and other locals later decided to build a temple dedicated to the father of the nation.
The foundation stone was laid on March 23, 1971 and the temple was built within three years and inaugurated on April 11, 1974.
Prasanta Majhi, a visitor, said, “I visit the temple on Gandhi Jayanti and Shahid Diwas. Nowadays, people from even other states come here. Gandhiji is worshipped here every day. People don’t wait for any occasion to remember his sacrifices.” In 2019, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) named the ring road of the city after the father of the nation.
The 7.5-km-long road, which originates from Dr Nelson Mandela Square and connects with National Highway 53, is called Mahatma Gandhi Marg. The road runs along Mahanadi.
Mahatma Gandhi had visited Sambalpur twice, on December 22, 1928 and May 5, 1934. On both occasions, he had addressed public meetings on the river bed of Mahanadi near Brahmapura temple ghat, historian Deepak Kumar Panda said. PTI COR AAM AAM ACD
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