Indus Valley Times

By Sudam Patra

Rairangpur (Odisha), May 4: For her, it was a great homecoming after she became the President of India. Perhaps she was waiting with a bated breath for this momentous trip to lose herself in the beauty and fragrance of her motherland – the picturesque Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, appeared quite ecstatic as she landed Badampahad helipad in the district on Thursday to spend precious three days among his own people.

The entire Mayurbhanj district wore a festive look as the administration left no stone unturned to adorn the roads, villages, schools and colleges and many other such places with decorative items.

Santhali tribal groups across the district hailed the President’s arrival by performing dances.

The President was given a ceremonial welcome at the Badampahad helipad by Governor Ganeshi Lal, Union minister Bisheswar Tudu, Odisha steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick and local MLAs. Soon after her landing, she walked down the road for about half-a-kilometer and met people, including tribal men, women and children, waiting eagerly on both sides of the road to greet the daughter of the soil.

They waved at her as she travelled to her in-law’s house at Pahadpur village in Rairangpur sub-division, about five kilometres from the helipad.

“It was a dream come true to see the President of India from such a close quarter. We waved at her and said ‘Namaste.’ She promptly responded by waving at us,” said a group of school students who had lined up by the side of a road to have a glimpse of her.

Scores of hoardings and banners were put up in Rairangpur and Pahadpur to welcome her.

The President gifted mushroom seeds to women of her village and asked them to cultivate them to become self-reliant. For her relatives and elderly people of the area, she had brought clothes from Delhi.

Later, she launched the ‘Addiction Free Odisha’ campaign of Brahma Kumaris Centre at Hatbadra in Mayurbhanj district

About 1,500 police persons led by 100 officers were deployed at different locations in view of the presidential visit, a senior official said.

This is Murmu’s maiden visit to Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district, which is also her birthplace, after assuming the highest constitutional post of the country and became the first tribal president of the country.

At Pahadpur she garlanded her late husband Shyam Charan Murmu’s statue and visited the SLS Memorial School in the area.

The president is slated to visit the Similipal Tiger Reserve on Friday.

“This will be the first visit by any president to Similipal National Park,” an official said.

She will also inaugurate a 100-ft tall flagmast for hoisting the tricolour near Badabandha, near Rairangpur.