Bilung to be known as ‘Rangabati Bilung’ now
SAMBALPUR: In a befitting honour to Mitrabhanu Gountia, the man who penned lyrics of ‘Rangabati’, his native village will now bear the timeless Sambalpuri song’s name and be rechristened ‘Rangabati Bilung.’
The Revenue and Disaster Management department on Wednesday issued a notification which led to culmination of efforts of both the Centre and Odisha Government. It is probably for the first time that a village will be named after a song.
Last year in September, the State Government had taken up the matter following a request from Rangabati Krida Sanskrut Academy of which the famous lyricist is the secretary.
In December, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah drawing his attention to the issue. The Home Ministry subsequently gave its ‘No Objection Certificate’ to rename the village which has become popular across the globe due to the song and its lyricist, who was conferred Padma Shri earlier this year.
Gountia said, though renaming was done on the day, people of the region have been calling the village ‘Rangabati Bilung’ since 2004 when silver jubilee of the song was celebrated. The same year, a proposal to officially rename the village was passed in the Palli Sabha. The State Government sent the proposal to the Centre on September 7 last year.
An elated Gountia thanked the State and Union Governments for fulfilling the long-standing demand of people of western Odisha. “Now the new name of the village will reflect on Government documents and signboards. It is rare to name a village after a song,” he said.
Union Minister Pradhan said renaming of the village is a befitting honour on the lyricist as well as ‘Rangabati’ which gave Odisha a unique identity across the globe. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah as well the State Government.
The iconic ‘Rangabati’ song was recorded for All India Radio (AIR), Sambalpur in 1975-76 for Surmalika special programme and re-recorded (Disc) in Indian Record Company, Kolkata in 1978-79.
It went on to become the all-time hit Sambalpuri folk song. The evergreen cult favourite has gained the rare recognition of having two Padma Shri awardees for a single work of art. After its singer Jitendra Haripal was conferred the honour in 2017, 77-year-old Gountia was nominated for the award this year.
Popularity of the song can be well-gauged from the fact that eminent singer Shankar Mahadevan sang ‘Rangabati’ during the inaugural ceremony of Asian Athletics Championships held at Bhubaneswar on July 5 in 2017.