Bhubaneswar: President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to visit her home district in Odisha at the month-end.
According to sources, the President will spend around 30 minutes and offer prayers at Maa Kichakeswari temple between 10.10 am and 10.40 am during her visit to Mayurbhanj on February 29. She will also witness the aarti at the shrine.
Dedicated to Goddess Chamunda, the temple is located at Khiching, about 150 km from Baripada, the district headquarters of Mayurbhanj. It was rebuilt in the early 1940’s by the ruler of Mayurbhanj from the ruins of the original temple said to have been constructed 1200 years ago by scions of the Bhanja dynasty. The temple, made of chlorite, is architecturally brilliant and well carved from its outer surface.
The temple committee had requested Murmu to visit the shrine on December 28 last year. Following an official communique, the administration has started preparations to welcome the President, the sources added.
This will be her third visit to her home district since assuming charge as the President in July 2022. Murmu hails from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj.
In November 2023, the President had inaugurated an Eklavya Model Residential School at Kuliana and also attended the inaugural session of the 36th Annual Conference and Literary Festival of All India Santali Writers’ Association at Baripada, in the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district. Earlier in May that year, she attended the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in Baripada and also visited the Similipal Tiger Reserve.
