Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday approved Rs 30.58 crore for modern library in memory of freedom fighter Biswanath Pandit at Badambadi in Odisha’s Cuttack city.
According to a CMO release, the stilt plus 3-floor library will have a 100 capacity auditorium, cafeteria, ample parking area apart from a wide stock of books and a conducive environment for learning.
In June, Cuttack mayor Subhash Singh told the media that the Cuttack Municipal Corporation has identified more than three acres of land at Angul bus stand in Badambadi area to build the three-storey, state-of-the-art library.
Started in 1981 at Saheed Bhawan and later shifted to a new building at Khannagar in 1998, Biswanath Pandit Library has been the desired destination for book lovers and researchers alike. People from nearby areas also visited the library for its extensive collection of books. The library was later shifted to the Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) near Judicial Academy due to construction of Cuttack Netaji Bus Terminal.
Notably, locals had apprised Secretary (5T) V K Pandian, during his visit to Cuttack, about the immediate need of the library, and its proximity to the bus stand for the benefit of people coming from nearby villages and towns.
ABOUT BISWANATH PANDIT
Biswanath Pandit was born at Dagarpada in Cuttack on January 3, 1919. After his early education in Dagarpada Upper Primary School, he passed matriculation from Ravenshaw Collegiate School in 1936. When he was in school, the police lathi charge on the Banarsena group in Swaraj Ashram and Mahatma Gandhi’s speech on the bank of Kathjodi in 1928, had a deep impact on his psyche.
Deeply impressed and moved by a speech of Jawaharlal Nehru in Cuttack in 1936, he joined the Congress party in 1938 by paying four anna. He participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and arranged a secret shelter for Surendra Nath Dwivedy in the house of Mahura Sahoo in Cuttack from where Dwivedy secretly supervised the movement. After the arrest of Dwivedy and other leaders, he got involved in many sabotage works to paralyse the railway and telegraphs. He, however, was arrested on March 3, 1943, and was charged with sedition. He was sent to Berhampur jail where he came in contact with many radical leaders and developed an interest in socialism. After his release on July 1, 1945, he devoted himself in the organisational works of Congress and became active in Congress Socialist Party. After independence, he remained in Socialist Party and worked to strengthen it.
In 1942, he was elected to Cuttack Municipality Council and in 1973, he became the Mayor of Cuttack. In 1975, he was arrested during the emergency. After his release when Socialist Party was merged with Janata Party, he became a member of it and also the president of the party’s Odisha Unit. After the defeat of Janata Party in 1980, he lost interest in active politics. He died on May 18, 2002.
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