Appeal to declare Utkal Ashram as heritage bldg

Berhampur: Academics and activists on Utkal Divas urged the state government to declare Utkal Ashram, a 99-year-old building in Silk City where a series of meetings were held to chalk out strategies for the movement for a separate Odisha, as a heritage building.
“The 99-year-old building was an important part of the movement which led to the formation of a separate Odisha on April 1, 1936. The government should declare it as a heritage building,” said Bishnu Charan Choudhury, former professor, Berhampur University.
“The government needs to set up a museum in the building by preserving documents related to the movement and photographs of the leaders who spearheaded it,” said Banamali Panigrahy, a retired college principal.
“This demand was earlier made by the Utkal Ashram Trust and several literary activists, but no action was taken,” said Sidharth Shankar Padhy, secretary of the trust.TNN