President Droupadi Murmu arrives in state on a 6-day tour

Bhubaneswar/Kendrapada: President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Bhubaneswar on Monday evening, starting off her six-day Odisha tour during which she will attend a series of official, cultural and religious programmes across Balasore, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Puri and Khurda districts. Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati and chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, among others, received the President at Biju Patnaik International Airport.After an overnight stay at Lok Bhawan, Murmu will on Tuesday attend the convocation ceremony of Fakir Mohan University in Balasore and inaugurate its newly-constructed auditorium. She will later visit the revered Ma Biraja temple in Jajpur to perform ‘pind daan’ (ritual oblations) for her departed forefathers.The President will proceed to Puri on Tuesday evening and stay overnight. On Wednesday morning, she will have darshan at the Lord Jagannath temple and perform ‘pind daan’ at Swetaganga before leaving for Mayurbhanj later in the day.In her native Mayurbhanj district on Wednesday, Murmu will unveil the statue of tribal leader Bhanjbir Sunaram Soren and interact with students at the Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Mahuldiha, in Rairangpur. She will also inaugurate and lay foundation stones for multiple development projects, including the Government Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, facilities at the OUAT campus, an archery centre, and city beautification and drainage upgradation works.In addition, she will inaugurate several CSR projects and lay the foundation stone for the MSCB University Information Technology campus at Rairangpur. The President will stay overnight at her residence in Rairangpur.On Thursday, Murmu will visit her village Pahadpur and interact with students of SLS Memorial School, established in memory of her late husband and sons.On Friday, she will interact with women and youth from tribal communities at Similipal and later attend the ‘Black Swan Summit, India’ in Bhubaneswar, being organised by the Odisha government in collaboration with the Global Finance and Technology Network in Bhubaneswar. She is scheduled to leave Odisha for Chhattisgarh on Saturday to inaugurate the ‘Bastar Pandum-2026’ festival at Jagdalpur.Meanwhile, extensive preparations are underway in Jajpur ahead of the President’s visit to the Ma Biraja temple. The temple premises have been decorated with flowers, while the town has undergone intensive sprucing up with cleaned roads, freshly painted dividers and heightened security arrangements.As part of the preparations, the Jajpur district administration has declared a holiday for 48 govt and private schools within the municipal limits on Tuesday, collector Ambar Kumar Kar said. Five helipads have been readied to facilitate the arrival of the President and other dignitaries.The Ma Biraja temple will remain closed to devotees from 2 pm on Monday until the completion of the President’s visit, said SP (Jajpur) Yashpratap Shrimal.