Prez To Inaugurate Museum At Anand Bhawan In March

CM Naveen Patnaik gifting a book to President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday. Photograph: OB

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday evening invited President Ram Nath Kovind to inaugurate a museum and a school at Anand Bhavan in Cuttack in the memory of Biju Patnaik.

The President has consented to dedicate the ‘Anand Bhawan Museum and Learning Centre’ to the people of Odisha either on March 17 or 18, Naveen said following the meeting in New Delhi. He said tourists would get an opportunity to visit the heritage building, which has witnessed to innumerable patriotic acts during the freedom struggle.

Anand Bhawan, the ancestral house of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, has been donated by his children including Naveen as a tribute to the people of Odisha for their love and affection, an official release said. The State Government recently converted it into a museum and learning centre, housing various personal belongings of Biju Patnaik, his childhood photographs, memorabilia, other rare personal articles and books, narrating his role in the freedom struggle of India and Indonesia, it added.

The Chief Minister also presented the recently-released book, ‘The Tall Man Biju Patnaik’, to Kovind. Sunder Ganesan has authored it.

Naveen, who was on a two day visit to the national capital, will return to Bhubaneswar on Sunday, official sources said.