Heritage tag demand for Utkal Ashram in Berhampur

The 90-year-old Utkal Ashram, which saw leaders of the Odia movement chalking out strategies for the formation of a separate state on the basis of language, deserves a heritage tag, feel eminent citizens. Odisha was formed on April 1, 1936, and this building was a mute witness to this historic change. Basant Kumar Panigrahi, a senior advocate, said, "The government should declare it a heritage building." He also felt the government should set up a museum inside the building to display all relevant documents of the movement and photographs of frontline leaders. History says, the Rambha Palace of Harihar Mardaraj, the king of then Khallikote, was the first to invite all Odia leaders to help strategize the movement in 1902. The palace has now been leased out to a hotel. Retired professor Prahallad Panda said, "In the absence of a heritage status, the building is being called Utkal Ashram." 

The annual conference of the Ganjam Jatiya Samiti was held in Berhampur on April 11 and 12, 1903. This conference provided infrastructural support for the inception of the birth of Utkal Sammilani, which held its first conference at the Idgah Ground in Cuttack. The place for the ashram was donated by the then zamindar of Sheragada estate. A thatched house was built like an ashram to provide shelter to the leaders. Later, a separate building was constructed for collecting donation, Panigrahi added. Almost all leaders from Odisha visited the ashram during the movement. Since the place played a pivotal role in the formation of a separate state, the road that passes through it was named Utkal Ashram Road by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC). "As the place played a significant role in the formation of a separate state and to help promote Odia language and culture, it needs to be declared a heritage building," said Mohapatra Bhaskar Gantayat, a noted Odia litterateur. Source: Times of India