‘Sundargarh Bahi Padha’ Resumes Post-Pandemic; Encourages Book Reading Among Students, Youth

Sundargarh/Rourkela: The district administration resumed ‘Sundargarh Bahi Padha’ Abhijan post COVID pandemic. The event, which was being held every Sunday in pre-pandemic time, has been resumed with an aim to develop a reading habit among the students, youth and people of Sundargarh.

Under the initiative, along with book reading, various creative activities were organised at the residential office of Collector to engage children of various age groups.

On Tuesday, a special programme was held at Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) Library as part of Sundargarh Bahi Padha campaign. Students and teachers from various schools of the city participated.

Collector Nikhil Pavan Kalyan and ADM-cum-Commissioner RMC Subhankar Mohapatra joined the event and encouraged students to read books. The collector sought feedback of participants on how to take the ‘Bahi Padha Abhijan’ forward making it more beneficial for the people of Sundargarh.

Former Reader of Odia Department, Municipal College Rourkela, Girija Goswami, teacher at Municipal High School Panposh, Raj Kumar Mohanty  and writer Bibhuti Bhusan Das attended the event and inspired students to broaden their perspective and improve knowledge by reading books.

DIPRO Rourkela Seema Fatima Ekka and RMC PMU expert Prasanta Kumar Nayak also joined the event at Rourkela.

Similarly, under the campaign, various activities were organised at District Library, Zilla Sanskruti Bhawan in Sundargarh. Various Folk performances were staged by local artists to generate interest in book reading.

ADM Sundargarh-cum-CEO DMF Maheswar Chandra Nayak, DEO Amulya Kumar Pradhan, DIPRO Sundargarh Nandini Mundari and District Culture Officer Kuldeep Xaxa were present.

Under ‘Sundargarh Bahi Padha’, public libraries have been set up in different parts of the district to ignite the interest of book reading. Apart from the District Library at Sundargarh, another library has been set up at Information and Public Relations Department. The library has various books to cater to different age groups.

Recently, a sub-divisional library has been opened in Bonai while Rural Libraries have been set up at block headquarters of Lephripara and at Kamlaga in Hemgir block.

The district administration has taken renewed steps to encourage reading at various colleges and public places. Along with the reading room, the libraries have been provisioned with drinking water and toilet facilities.

Modern libraries, e-Library and ICT Labs are being established at the Government High Schools as part of High School Transformation Programme under 5T. The modern library and e-library are being especially helpful in enhancing the knowledge of High School students.