President Murmu To Visit Her Village, Simplipal National Park This Week

President Droupadi Murmu will pay her maiden visit to her native place in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha since assuming office and will visit Similipal National Park later this week, officials said on Monday.

Her visit to the national park, a tiger reserve that covers an area of 2,750 km, will be the first by a president of the country, the officials said.

President Murmu will pay the three-day visit to her home district from May 4 and visit her in-law's village Pahadpur in Rairangpur sub-division, they said.

The President will reach Kalaikunda Air Force station in West Bengal on May 4, from there she will travel by helicopter to Badampahar helipad and reach Pahadpur the same day, the official said.

Ms Murmu had visited the state twice earlier since assuming office in July 2022 and this time her visit will be confined to Mayurbhanj district.

According to the schedule made available to the media, the President will visit the memorial of her husband Shyamcharan Murmu and her two sons and attend various programmes at Rairangpur. She is also slated to lay the foundation stones of two projects at Pahadpur and spend the night at Rairangpur Inspection Bungalow, the officials said.

She will visit Simlipal National Park, a tiger reserve, on May 5 and spend the entire day inside the sanctuary.

Ms Murmu will visit Baripada, the Mayurbhanj district headquarter town and attend the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University the next day before winding up her visit and returning to Delhi.

Meanwhile, the President's proposed visit has created a flutter among the people in the area. The entire Pahadpur village is undergoing a complete makeover with kutcha roads leading to it being concretised and her in-law's house renovated.

The local residents are looking forward to the president's visit and to accord a grand welcome to the daughter of the soil, an official said.

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