Bhubaneswar, March 14: The first meeting of the State-Level Project Management Committee constituted for the implementation of the Baraputra Aitihya Gram Yojana was held on Friday under the chairmanship of Odia Language, Literature and Culture Minister Suryabanshi Suraj here.

The Minister held discussions with district Collectors of various districts through virtual mode regarding the effective implementation of the scheme.

Under the Baraputra Aitihya Gram Yojana, the ancestral houses of eminent personalities (Baraputras) will be developed into museums. Statues of the personalities will also be installed. In addition, facilities such as interpretation centres, libraries, conference halls open-air theatres will be created along with other supporting infrastructure.

To promote local livelihoods, sales centres for locally popular cuisine, handicrafts and handloom products will also be established. Various seminars, discussions, cultural programmes and events based on the lives and contributions of these eminent personalities will be organised to promote and disseminate their ideals and values.

In the first phase of the scheme, 25 eminent personalities (Baraputra) have been identified. An amount of up to Rs 15 crore will be spent for the development of each birthplace village. Altogether, a maximum of Rs 345 crore will be spent for the development of these 25 villages in the first phase.

The 25 prominet personalities included in the first phase are Shaheed Laxman Naik (Koraput), Acharya Harihar Das and Pandit Krupasindhu Mishra (Puri), Jayee Rajguru and Buxi Jagabandhu (Puri district), Pandit Nilakantha Das (Satyabadi), Laxmi Indira Panda (Koraput), Shaheed Rendo Majhi (Kalahandi), Maa Ramadevi and Karmaveer Gourishankar (Cuttack), Fakir Mohan Senapati (Balasore), Chakra Bisoi and Ramchandra Mardaraj Deo (Ganjam), Shaheed Baji Rout (Dhenkanal), Krushna Chandra Gajapati (Gajapati), Ramchandra Bhanjdeo and Pandit Raghunath Murmu (Mayurbhanj), Godabarish Mishra (Khordha), Veer Surendra Sai (Sambalpur), Gangadhar Meher and Shaheed Madho Singh (Bargarh), Laxmikanta Mahapatra and Dr Harekrushna Mahatab (Bhadrak), Biplabi Dharanidhar Bhuyan (Keonjhar) and Shaheed Dharam Singh Majhi Mandhata (Balangir).

The Minister directed the district collectors to identify 2–3 acres of land in the villages of these eminent personalities or in nearby areas and inform the Culture Department at the earliest.

The meeting was attended by Dr Bijay Ketan Upadhyay, Secretary of the Odia Language, Literature and Culture Department; Dipankar Mahapatra, Director of Tourism Department; Deba Prasad Dash, Special Secretary of the Culture Department; and senior officials from the Works Department, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department, Planning and Convergence Department, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department, and Odisha State Archaeology.