As a part of the heritage walks curated as a Tribute to Karmaveer, we visited the sites with which Rai Bahadur Gouri Shankar Ray was closely associated with this morning. The site where the iconic Cuttack Printing Company was located was high priority in this morning's itinerary. Cuttack Printing Co was started in 1865 at the residence of Jagmohan Rai and shifted to it's own building at Dargha Bazar in 1870. Utkala Deepika appeared in 1866, first as a weekly, later as a daily. It's seminal contribution towards Odia life cat be guessed from the fact that we celebrate Odia Sambadikata on 4th of August, on the day Utkala Deepika made it's maiden appearance. Because Cuttack Printing Co was a cooperative venture, after Gouri Shankar Ray's death, the property was taken over by the state cooperative authorities. We were in for a great shock after entering into the premises, where State Cooperative Bank is located now.
