The Odisha government plans to restore ‘Pather Puri’, the residence of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Puri, and develop it into a museum. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by State Culture Minister Suryabanshi Suraj on Wednesday (October 8, 2025).The house stands near the seashore on a plot originally allotted to the poet before India’s independence. It was later built on by the Tagore family. In subsequent years, the property served as a boys’ hostel for students of the Samanta Chandra Sekhar College, Puri. The building had narrowly escaped demolition by the Puri Municipality after activists launched a campaign to preserve it.It was also decided at the high level meeting to set up a theme pavilion showcasing eminent Odia writers and their literary contributions at the Cuttack Bali Jatra, an annual week-long festival to commemmorate the journeys of ancient Odia mariners to islands that are part of modern-day Indonesia and Sri Lanka.“Indonesia will be invited as the partner country for this year’s event. Under the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ initiative, an Indian State will also be invited as the Partner State. Additionally, cultural troupes from several South Asian countries will be invited to participate and showcase their traditional performances,” said a statement issued by the Odia Language, Literature, and Culture Department. Published - October 08, 2025 10:26 pm IST