SAMBALPUR: People from different walks of life paid rich tributes to the legendary freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai on his 212th birth anniversary on Thursday.In Khinda village under Rengali block, the birthplace of Sai, a rally was organised by locals.
In Sambalpur city, members of political parties, cultural and social organisations garlanded the statue of Sai at Jail Chowk. Students of various schools took out a procession. The district administration and members of Odisha Sanskrutik Samaj organised a meeting in the evening where speakers recalled the contribution of Sai to the freedom struggle.
They said his role in shaping the revolution of 1857 in Western Odisha is highly inspiring. Sai was born into a royal family on January 23, 1809. Writer of ‘Sambalpur Itihas’, Deepak Panda said he started revolution against the British at the age of 18 in 1827 but was captured by them in 1840 and lodged in Hazaribagh prison.
During the Sepoy Mutiny, the rebel broke the Hazaribagh prison in 1857 and fled. In 1864, Sai was again sent to Asirgarh Jail near Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, where he died on February 28, 1884, he informed.